KOLKATA: With an increase in educational institutions and organisations adopting animals, birds and reptiles at Alipore Zoological Garden on an annual basis, the revenue from adoption crossed Rs 20 lakh in the financial year 2022-23 compared to the financial year 2021-22, which was Rs 13,62,200.
According to a senior zoo official, 89 animals were adopted in the year 2022-23 which was similar to 2021-22. “Earlier, individuals were adopting animals which either cost less or were adopted for shorter periods. However, this year we saw many bigger organisations, schools and institutions adopting big animals on an annual basis. Hence the amount has also increased,” the official said.
Scottish Church College adopted a fishing cat on an annual basis for a cost of Rs 30,000 and Delhi Public School adopted a spotted deer on an annual basis for a cost of Rs 10,000. Bigger investments came from organisations, including State Bank of India which adopted white tiger Raja on an annual basis for Rs 2 lakh and Indian Oil Corporation Limited Haldia Refinery which adopted rhino Jaldaprasad for a year for Rs 1 lakh.
Apart from organisations and educational institutions, the official said many adoptions were made by people who already had a history of adopting animals at Alipore Zoo. “It’s always a positive trend if more people are repeating adoption,” the official said. In 2022-23, out of 89 adopters, 18 had adopted an animal for a month and 71 had adopted for a year.
The zoo has been running an adoption programme since 2013. Authorities for the past two years have increased their campaign on making people aware of their adoption rules.
Shortening and giving more options when it came to the time period of adoptions attracted more individuals who wanted to adopt an animal on a monthly basis. The authorities had started putting photographs of adopters in specific enclosures in order to attract more visitors into adopting animals at the zoo. The motive behind this is to involve more people in the programmes by the zoo and take them a step closer to adopting animals.
The authorities spend crores of rupees on food, medicines and maintenance of the animals and the zoo space. The money given by the adopters is a token amount which is utilised for the well-being of
these animals.