The Indira Gandhi Zoological Park that’s usually bustling with tourists wore a desserted look on Monday morning. As the team of 20 animal attendents and some daily wage labourers strive to clean up the zoo enclosures, the animals are seen relaxing, relishing the rare privacy gained, away from prying eyes of noisy visitors.Our eyes fall on this handsome hunk of a crocodile, who seemed to be lounging around without a care in the world, while the cleaners drained the water from his enclosure and scrubbed the muck and moss. Krishna — that’s his name, we were told. Surprised at how unperturbed Krishna seemed even with 10 workers surrounding him, we wondered if he’s really that docile. Doesn’t he cause any harm to those inside; they’re so close to the croc? “Well, when there’s no water, a crocodile doesn’t move much. But of course, it’s a wild creature and even in captivity, it can be dangerous! But he (Krishna) just doesn’t want to move out of his enclosure, so we have no choice but to clean up without offending him much,” says the zoo keeper, with a chuckle.“The two female crocs, Padma and Rani, have gone out and are resting somewhere nearby. Krishna refused to budge. We just have to be alert and not disturb him much,” adds the attendent, as one of the cleaners throws some of the muck on Krishna. “That’s to keep him moisturised in the dry summer heat. His skin will dry out if we don’t keep it moist,” reveals the zoo keeper.Apparently, the crocodile enclosure is drained out and cleaned once in three months, but it has been six months since this one has been cleaned. “They were breeding a few months ago, so we didn’t want to disturb them. Ten babies hatched, of which six survived, but eventually four passed away in captivity — it happens sometimes,” says the attendant, with a tinge of sadness. After cleaning the muck, the enclosure is white-washed so that there’s no moss formation, after which it is filled with clean water once again.While the zoo remains closed on Mondays, it’s almost double the work for the staff who scrub, clean and spruce up the enclosures and prep up the zoo for another busy week filled with visitors. “People usually believe we don’t have much work on Mondays, as it’s an off day. But for us, it’s a really important and busy day,” says the zoo keeper, signing off.

Stay updated with all the Latest Visakhapatnam headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.