A portion of Manila Zoo in Malate was converted to an organic urban farm as it remains closed to the public amid the general community quarantine (GCQ).
Members of the Public Recreations Bureau of the Manila city government used the horseback riding area to plant vegetables that are fed to animals in the zoo.
In a Facebook post, Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso said this was done to make the zoo more sustainable amid the crisis brought about by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
"Sa maliit naming kaparaanan ay nais po namin na maging sustainable ang ating zoo kung kaya't ginagawang pataba o fertilizer ang mga dumi ng hayop at ang mga gulay na naani naman ay pandagdag sa araw-araw na pagkain ng ating mga alagang hayop (In our own little way, we wanted to make our zoo more sustainable, so, we use animal waste as fertilizer for vegetables which are added to their daily meals)," he said in his post.
Domagoso earlier said they will soon break ground for the Bagong Manila Zoo.
This is among the series of the city government's infrastructure projects lined up under the "Build Build Manila" program.
They recently broke ground for Tondominiums 1 and 2 and Bagong Ospital ng Maynila. The city government is set to break ground for Binondominium soon.