Tourist attractions have been one of the worst hit by the current ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
With most places closed down and even those which have reopened having to abide by strict rules one of which limits the number of people visiting those places, many places have been seeing a huge loss in their revenue.
One of them being zoos, that earlier saw a steady income come in from park tickets, parking facilities, and other premium benefits that they would offer for a certain price.
The Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, Odisha had been facing similar problems since the beginning of the lockdown. These problems would then be directly affecting the animals held in the zoo, since their maintenance and upkeep would become difficult with the limited budget.
So, in order to get some help and not let the pandemic affect the animals, the zoo officials decided to restart an old scheme of theirs called ‘Adopt-An-Animal’.
What Is The ‘Adopt-An-Animal’ Scheme?
Apparently, as per this scheme, a common citizen can easily adopt an animal for any amount of time from just 30 days to a whole year.
Once they adopt the animal, their funds will go towards the care, feeding, enclosure enrichment and renovation of the particular animal.
No, for the ones confused, the animal does not have to be taken to one’s home. They will remain at the zoo only, however, the adoption money will be used for that particular animal and its well-being.
NZP Deputy Director Bimala Prasanna Acharya said that, “We have received encouraging response from animal lovers. More than 100 organisations and individuals have come forward to adopt animals, pledging ₹22 lakh.”
Mr. Acharya also explained why this programme was so important in current times, “The NZP earns in the range of ₹15 crore-₹17 crore from entry passes and outsourcing of boating and parking facilities every year. With a minimum of ₹50 lakh required per month for the upkeep of animals, the zoo faced huge hardships due to the loss of revenue following the closure.”
As per this list, almost every animal in the zoo is up for adoption from the common ones like a squirrel and sparrow to unique ones like white tiger, crocodile and more.
Once having adopted an animal, the person or organisation would get an adoption certificate, a plaque in the zoo, and income tax rebates as per reports.
Here are some of the animals up for adoption and the amount needed to be paid for their adoption:
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Apparently, this initiative has seen a lot of popularity with many people having already adopted several animals.
The Director of the Zoological Park, Shashi Paul, even commented on this saying, “We started the scheme in 2008 but it couldn’t pick up much due to some issues. We made changes and this year the programme is going on very well. A total of 170-175 adoptions have already been done and we received Rs 22-23 lakh. 60 per cent of adoptions are from Odisha itself.”
Let us know in the comments below if you plan on adopting any of these animals.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The New Indian Express
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Odisha Nandankanan Zoo, ‘Adopt-An-Animal’ Scheme, Nandankanan Zoo, Odisha Zoo, Bhubaneswar Nandankanan zoo, Bhubaneswar zoo, Bhubaneswar zoo adopt an animal, adopt an animal program, adopt animal scheme india zoo
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