BANGALORE: The citizens of Bangalore and the corporate houses are yet to make up their mind to promote ‘Conservation Initiative’ being launched by Bannerghatta Biological Park for adoption of animals and birds of their choice. The animal adoption scheme is a big hit at Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens of Mysore where a number of Indian cricketers, individuals and corporate houses have adopted a variety of animals and birds housed in the Mysore Zoo.Every visitor to the zoo makes it a point to adopt at least a small bird by paying less than Rs 1,000 for a period of one year. Yoga Guru, Dr BSV Iyengar has given Rs 20 lakh to the Mysore and adopted tigers for a long period.Incidentally, the adoption scheme has received a big boost with the appointment of Dr R Raju who was the executive director of Mysore Zoo. Now, this officer has assumed charge as executive director of Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP), one of the most frequented biological parks of Karnataka. The BBP authorities are slowly but steadily persuing ‘Conservation Initiative’ to make the adoption programme more meaningful. The adoption charges starts from Rs 750 for small bird up to Rs 2 lakh for elephants for a period of one year. The big corporates like TVS Group, Bosch, Wipro have given lakhs of rupees as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) towards the Conservation Initiative. Last year, the BBP received Rs 70 lakh from various corporate houses as part of CI programme and Rs 20 lakhs through animal/bird adoption programme. This year, the BBP is expecting more funds from the corporates and citizens. Almost all the big animals like tigers, lions and elephants are adopted by the corporate houses as part of CSR programme. “The idea behind this programme is to tell the people the importance of flora and fauna and also involving them in conservation activities. Many big companies have responded positively to our call and have come forward to give lakhs of rupees towards conservation works. Money is not the constraint for big companies but they want it to be spent on a good cause. Many of them have appreciated the good deeds being done by the BBP in regard to conservation works and are voluntarily coming forward to become part of the programme. This is really a good beginning and the CI is going to be a big hit in the coming months”, he added.Dr Raju said plans are afoot to request celebrities from fields like cinema and sports to become ‘Brand Ambassador’ of Bannerghatta Biological Park so that many corporate houses become part of CI programme. Recently, a sandalwood star, Shubha Kunja volunteered to become the Brand Ambassador for BBP. “Our plan is to rope in international cricketers from Karnataka like Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid to become the Brand Ambassadors since they enjoy wide reputation in the country. We will use them as franchisee to impress upon the wildlife loving individuals and companies to become part of the conservation programme.”
Comments
0 comment