Mumbai (PTI): The Brihanumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is to go head with the Rs 430-crore zoo modernisation plan which is expected to be completed in the next two-three years.

The country's richest municipal corporation has chalked out the plan in collaboration with a foreign agency to improve the condition of the civic-run zoo and also its caged inhabitants at Byculla, civic sources said.

The BMC has put in place a new master plan after the Bombay High Court asked it to revise its earlier project. The civic body got it prepared by a Thailand-based agency, M/s HKS Designer and Consultant International Company.

As part of the plan, animals will be acquired from South East Asia, Africa and Australia among other regions through different agencies, they said. There will be 273 mammals of 43 species, 183 birds of 24 species and 96 reptiles of 26 species as per the animal collection plan.

Meanwhile, the BMC has issued a clarification over the alleged ill-treatment of animals at the zoo (Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan). It has said there are two veterinary doctors to look after the health of the animals.

Help is taken from the Bombay Veterinary College and two advisors from Bombay Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) have been appointed to render service and guidance on health matters, it said.

The civic body also cleared its stand on the conditions of the hippopotamus in the zoo, by releasing the list of those born at the zoo in the last 25 years and their current status.

"There were nine hippos - three male and six female.

Of these, three were shifted to different zoos as per a High Court order, and two hippos, including Shakti, have died.

Currently, there are four hippos - one male and three female - in the zoo," a civic official said.

The civic body claimed zoo animals are given adequate and varied food, provided fresh drinking water. Water at the enclosures for hippos is changed twice a week.

However, animal rights organisation People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has expressed dissatisfaction over the condition of animals in the zoo. It has asked the Central Zoo Authority to shut down the zoo as the authorities have failed to maintain it properly.