Dubai: The Dubai Zoo was the first established on the Arabian Peninsula in May 1967. The late Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum gave permission for the zoo to be constructed and it was built by an expatriate Otto J. Bulart in 1967 on Jumeirah Road.
Throughout the years the zoo expanded and it became unique and filled with a variety of great animal species. During the first couple of years, the Dubai Zoo housed only a few animals like big cats, monkeys and hoofed animals. There was also a small aquarium with some fish and reptiles.
In 1971 the management of the Dubai Zoo was taken over by the Dubai Municipality. From May 1986 to May 1989, a part of the Zoo was redesigned and rebuilt. Since June 1989 there has been constant re-designing and renovation.
Due to the increasing number of animals and complaints from visitors and animal rights groups about the animals living in cramped conditions, the municipality announced the construction of a new zoo in Al Mushrif Park in 2003 but the plan was shelved.
Again, the civic body announced building a zoo at a new location in November 2005 in Mushrif, but that was also stopped.
In 2009, the civic body announced the construction of a new zoo at Dubailand on a public-private partnership basis but that also did not materialise due to the global recession. The municipality now has a new plan to build a zoo at a new location. However, it has yet to announce when and where the new zoo will be built.
