HYDERABAD: Rich people in the state are not coming forward readily to adopt zoo animals like tiger and elephant despite tax exemption because many feel it is a costly affair. As per the animal/bird adoption scheme introduced in 2001, either individuals or corporates can adopt animals like lion and tiger, crocodile, chimpanzee, monkey and cat and also birds like owl. The adopters cannot take the animals home, but have to keep them in the charge of zoo authorities and pay their maintenance charge for one-year, six months or three months.Everyday, a good number of animal lovers come forward to adopt animals at the three zoological parks of Hyderabad, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam. However, they soon realise they do not have enough money to adopt animals like tiger or elephant. A Hyderabad-based animal lover and a retired teacher, SK Shareef, says: “I went to the Nehru zoo to adopt a tiger for one year, but I could not as I had to pay Rs 1.75 lakh.”Former principal of the Gandhi Medical College Dr Pradeep Deshpande is among those who adopted a tiger. “In August last year, I adopted a one-year-old tiger cub called Pushpa Kumar, which was named by Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, at Nehru zoo,” he said. But he felt the price was high. He approached zoo officials to reduce the charges.“We cannot change the price of the animal adoption as it was framed by the government. But the adopters can pay a little less than the mentioned amount and get certificate,” zoo director P Mallikarjuna Rao said.Dattatreya Joshi, member of People for Animals’ Rights, said they urged the Central Zoo Authority to reduce adoption charges. They also made a similar appeal to the state forest and zoological parks officials. “I am sure the officials will reduce the charges because it is public demand,” he said. “Moreover, the adoption scheme would promote awareness among the people besides helping the maintenance of animals.”In the year the adoption scheme was announced, the number of animals adopted at all the three zoos in the state together was zero. The next year (2002) saw four animals being adopted, followed by six in 2003, six in 2004, four in 2005, six in 2006, eight in 2007, 10 in 2008, eight in 2009 and 12 in 2010. After announcing the income tax relief last year, about 16 animals were adopted and Rs 20 lakh was realised through the adoption scheme.Those who adopt animals will get some benefits from the zoo, like free entry for the family members, display of the adopter’s name outside the animal enclosure and invitation for all programmes conducted at the zoo.Animal lovers say celebrities and corporate houses should come forward to adopt elephants, lions and tigers, which is not affordable for ordinary people.Meanwhile, the zoological parks authority officials and forest minister S Vijayarama Raju, at a meeting, had chalked out a plan to popularise the animal adoption scheme among all sections of the society, particularly VIPs and VVIPs to make them stakeholders in wildlife conservation.
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