The Almuñécar bird park and the aquarium are being privatized. Whilst the former will open at the beginning of August, the latter will not be ready this summer.

The main problem with the bird park is that it has not been updated in 25 years and a lot of new regulations have come into force since then, such as accessibility for those with mobility problems.

The Councillor for the Environment, Luis Aragón, explained that with a complete lack of funds, they have done what they can as a temporary, but to really sort it out, things will have to wait to ‘better times.’

They have repaired the cages; especially the floors, which were very deteriorated. The office has had damp-proofing installed and a new area for lemurs has been created.

The Acuario, of course, is a different matter; to put it right the Town Hall would need to find 600,000 euros – an impossible task in these present ‘restrictive’ times. So far, the electrical installations have been overhauled and the floor is being worked on.

The plan is to get them both up and running, whilst a deal with a private company is being beaten out. The third week of July saw the period expire during which companies had the chance to come forward with offers.

Putting these two installations, plus the Peña Escrita mountain park, into private management will save the town coffers an estimated 500,000 euros a year, says the Councillor.

Whilst on the subject of the mountain park, the CA issued a press release to say that three of the for llamas in the installations have been killed by a pack of wild dogs…

(News: Almuñécar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)