You too can now adopt animals from Alipore Zoological Park - GetBengal story
Thanks to Alipore Zoological Park, you can now easily become a guardian for any animal or bird of your choice. Though the inception of this initiative dates long back, the process of passively adopting animals is becoming more popular with time. The zoo authority claims that in recent times, they have noticed quite a bit of enthusiasm among common people regarding passive animal adoption.
In 2013, Alipore Zoological Park flagged off their ‘animal adoption’ program. The zoo authority encompasses 12 separate zoos, among which the Alipore Zoo has the highest adoption rate of animals. Apart from this, you can also passively adopt animals from Surulia Mini Zoo (Purulia), Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (Darjeeling), Bengal Safari (Siliguri), and Burdwan Zoological Park. Harinalaya in Newtown, too, will soon be joining the endeavour.
The complete process of passively adopting wild animals aims to bridge the gap between humans and wildlife, create proper awareness among the masses regarding the importance and conservation of wild animals, and preserve several species of endangered animals. The person wishing to passively adopt an animal has to pay a certain amount to the zoo authority, which in turn will serve as the rent for food, accommodation, and veterinary expenses for the animal.
According to the zoo authority, there are two different procedures following which the adoption can be done. One can pay the sum on a yearly or monthly basis. The sum varies for different birds and animals, which starts at one thousand and goes up to two lakhs (yearly) and varies between one hundred and 20 thousand (monthly). However, the more popular payment method is the monthly one. One has to apply for adoption through an online medium, and the contract gets renewed every year after a certain period of time. Besides common people, institutions, banks, and education institutes also opt for adopting animals passively. The residence of the adopter does not matter in this case.
It is important to mention in this regard that National Award-winning actress Sohini Sengupta of Nandikar adopted a chimpanzee three years ago, whom she has lovingly named ‘Babu’. Sengupta loves Babu as her brother and celebrates ‘bhai phota’ with him. She celebrates his birthdays in the zoo too, in the presence of her friends and family. Sengupta is more than just an ardent animal lover.
Although many people now know about passive adoption, most of them are not clear about its terms. As the rules say, one cannot take home a passively adopted animal. The Alipore Zoo authority told GetBengal, “We come across many such cases where people claim that they have lavish houses where they want to keep lions or tigers as pets. We then go on to explain to them the whole process again and again. The adopted animal or bird stays in the zoo only. We put up a board with the name and details of the adopter outside the enclosure of the particular animal/bird. We hand over a certificate to the adopter. We also provide free entry passes for the adopter (+4 people) so that they can meet the adopted animal and celebrate any special day with it.”
Sources state that the Alipore Zoological Park has earned up to 20 lakh rupees during the 2022–23 financial year through its adoption program. A total of 89 animals were adopted during this period (18 of them were adopted in a monthly order, whereas the rest of 71 were adopted in a yearly order).
Image Courtesy : kolkatazoo.in
