| ADOPT
A TIGER OR A PARROT |
 Good
news for those concerned about wild life and the environment!
Here you have a chance to adopt a Tiger, a Lion, a
Peacock or a Cobra that you like very much.
Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad has outlined
an Animal Adoption Scheme to raise funds to treat
the rare wild species of the zoo in a better way.
The Hyderabad zoo is one of the biggest zoo parks in
India. Spread over 400 acres, it houses about 2000
various species of animals, birds and reptiles. Under
the new scheme, individuals or the  corporates
have to pay some fixed amount to adopt a particular animal
for the whole year. The animal will be looked after by
the zoo authorities only. Sponsors are allowed to spend
some time with the animal whenever they want. But, they
will not be allowed to take it home. Of course, the name
of the individual or the company will be displayed on
the cage or enclosure of the animal, which gets exposed
to thousands of visitors from various parts of India and
the world.
"We are also planning to have a monthly or quarterly
bulletin on the zoo with reports on how the adopted animals
are doing. We will circulate it among those who adopt
the animals," says V P Jauhar,
principal secretary (forests and environment). One of
the big cats can be yours for Rs. 1 lakh per year.
You can have an Elephant for Rs. 5 lakh a year
while the Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus enclosures
can be adopted for Rs. 5 lakh each.  There
are also packages for adoption of various Monkeys.
One can adopt the friendly Orangutan or the lonely
Chimpanzee for Rs. 50,000.
If you are more enthusiastic, you might adopt the whole
Lion safari for Rs. 20 lakh. The Tiger safari
will cost you half of that. The Lion enclosures will be
up for grabs for Rs. 10 lakh, while the Tiger enclosures
(including the white tigers) will cost you Rs. 15 lakh.
Of course, there are also some feathery options. Peacocks,
Partridges, Pheasants, Parrots or Five birds
of any combination can be sponsored for Rs 10,000. Those
who cannot come up with big sums, say a group of school
children, too have options to participate in the scheme.
The sums are fixed by calculating  amounts
spent on the particular animal for its feed and supervisory
staff.
"The Animal Adoption Scheme implemented by Mysore
Zoo some time ago is working well. We hope the same
thing will happen here," says A V Joseph,
Curator of Nehru Zoo. The Andhra Pradesh government
is planning to implement similar schemes in other two
zoo parks in the state viz., Tirupathi and Vizag.
So start thinking whether to adopt a Lion, a Hippo or
a Parrot. |
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Mohan G Jagan
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