Thiruvananthapuram: New job opportunities are opening up in the Gulf for the zoo workers here. Two daily wage workers of the city zoo, Krishna Kumar and S. Ajithan, have secured jobs as animal keepers in Riyadh zoo in Saudi Arabia where they joined on Wednesday.
Anil Kumar, another zoo keeper, had joined Fujairah zoo a few years ago. Graduate veterinary trainees, who had done their internships at the city zoo, are also making a beeline to zoos in West Asia.
Krishna Kumar of Vattiyoorkavu and Ajithan of Manacaud were working in the local zoo for several years. They could not be given the maximum working days as there are 42 daily wage earners and 12 permanent keepers at the city zoo. Each worker now gets 14 working days with wages of Rs 650 per day.
The LDF government has sanctioned 12 new permanent vacancies. Therefore, the remaining daily wage workers will lose their current opportunities. Anil Kumar got married, built a house, married off his sister and repaid his loans after he got a job in Fujairah.
Krishna Kumar and Ajithan will get Rs 25,000 per month as well as free transportation, accommodation, food and 21 days’ annual leave with up and down air tickets.
“The salary they earn can be considered as savings. Moreover, they will be paid for overtime work. Here they were earning around Rs 9,110 only,” said a zoo official.
Seven veterinary doctors who were trained in the Thiruvanantha-puram zoo have joined Riyadh zoo, directorate of animal husbandry, the Remount and Veterinary Corps under the Indian Army and Pilikula biological park in Mangalore zoo. Seven more applications from veterinary doctors for 10 days’ internships from Karnataka and Telan-gana are pending with K. Gangadharan, museum and zoo director.
