Meanwhile, even as it is struggling to raise the money needed for undertaking its initiatives, the facility also has to rebuild a portion of it which would be affected by the ongoing road widening work.

“The front counter and the entrance office will go. So we are planning to revamp the frontage and three exhibits near the entrance first,” said Zahida.

The MCBT and Center for Herpetology was started in 1976 by Herpetologist and reptile conservationist Romulus Earl Whitaker, and was the first crocodile breeding centre in Asia, set up to save the dwindling crocodile population and preserve snakes.