Egypt's Giza Zoo reopens for holy holiday

"I wasn't sure that the zoo would be open, but I can't imagine the Eid al-Fitr holiday without the zoo! " Ibrahim Abdel-Satar, a resident in Egypt's capital of Cairo, took his four children to the previously closed Giza Zoo on Thursday, and happily found out that it indeed had reopened. Not far from the zoo, supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi have been staging a sit-in at Nahda Square over the past month, which was one of the reasons that the zoo was closed for precaution. But with the advent of Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, Fatma Tamam, director of the zoo, felt the urge to reopen it, although only those gates far from Nahda Square would allow in visitors. Hundreds of families with children flocked to the zoo in the early hours of Thursday, many of whom had to walk a long way to the designated gates when they found out the main gate was not open. "We come here every Eid al-Fitr, and we will not stop this. There is no other place in Cairo where you can find so many animals and trees," said Moustafa Anour, a 12-year-old boy, adding that "As for protests, it has become a usual scene." Built in 1891, Giza Zoo features the same design as London Zoo, with roads paved with black stones and footpaths decorated with pebbles laid out like mosaics. Covering nearly 80 acres of green land, the zoo is home to around 4,000 animals belonging to more than 250 species, as well as trees over 100 years old. However, the turnout at the zoo on Thursday was lower than expected. "I can't believe we are on Eid al-Fitr vacation," Mohamed, a guard of deer, told Xinhua. In such seasons of the year, Giza Zoo used to receive more than 40,000 visitors a day, Tamam said, expressing hope that visitors will gradually come back to the zoo. For more than a month, supporters of the ousted president have staged several sit-ins and protests across the country, asking for Morsi's return. In view of the protests at Nahda Square and deadly clashes in the neighboring area, Giza Zoo, Cairo University and the historic Orman Garden were closed. Tamam recalled that protesters had cut several trees and erected tents inside Orman Gardens, adding that her zoo had suffered a loss of 1 million Egyptian pounds (about 14 million U.S. dollars) due to the closure. "I had to receive urgent financial help from the ministry of agriculture, so I can feed animals and pay salaries to workers," Tamam told Xinhua.