SINGAPORE: When the gates to the Jurong Bird Park (pic) opened for the last time On Jan4, Koh Jing Ting and Shweta Amba Alagan found themselves among a crowd of eager visitors making their final trip to the half-a-century-old wildlife park before it moves to Mandai Wildlife Reserve.
Even though the two 19-year-old students were at the park just last week, they stayed until it closed, joining the crowds who were whipping out their phones and cameras to capture the automated shutters rolling down.
Around 2,600 visitors turned up at the park, more than the average of 2,000 who go there on a regular day.
Over the final five days from last Friday, Jurong Bird Park had more than 30,000 visitors, the Mandai Wildlife Group that manages the park said.
Koh, whose eyes brightened up when she spoke of how she got to feed the forest-dwelling lorries, said: “It’s quite a sentimental day for both of us.”
Her friend, Shweta, chimed in about how seeing the different birds at the park helped her overcome her fear of flying animals.
The 20.2 hectare research and conservation park, Asia’s largest bird park, closed on its 52nd anniversary after first opening its doors to visitors in 1971.
Over the years, the park has won several world-first accolades for breeding threatened species such as the Great Hornbill, Black Hornbill, Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise, Straw-headed Bulbul and Santa Cruz Ground-dove.
The 3,500 birds it houses will continue to be cared for as it prepares to move to a new, slightly smaller bird park called Bird Paradise, set to open in the second quarter of this year at the Mandai Wildlife Reserve.
It will join the Singapore Zoo, River Wonders and Night Safari, as well as Mandai’s upcoming attractions including Rainforest Wild and a new resort situated within the site.
On Jan 4, during the park’s High Flyer show where visitors may take photos with flamingos, a queue of about 200 people stretched from the stage to the top of a large amphitheatre.
A bout of heavy rain in the late afternoon did little to dampen spirits during the final showing of the Kings of the Skies presentation that featured the Bald Eagle, Brahminy Kites and Himalayan Griffon Vulture.
The host asked if the show should go on and was met with a resounding “Yes!” by the audience, who began taking out their umbrellas.
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