Mysuru: Sports persons including cricketers are getting into wildlife conservation. The reason? They not only want to help in conservation but at the same time they want others to get into wildlife conservation. Most of the Karnataka cricketers including former players are already into wildlife conservation.
On September 7, Hubli Tigers, who registered a stunning two-wicket win over Bengaluru Blasters in the sixth edition KPL match at SDNRW ground, along with their franchise owners and team members led by Vinay Kumar visited Mysuru Zoo. On the occasion, Abhishek Jindal and Shivek Jindal representing the franchise and on behalf of Sushil Kumar Jindal adopted a tiger by handing over a cheque of Rs 1 Lakh. After the adoption process was completed, the players who are very interested about wild animals went around the zoo.
Abhishek Jindal said, “The fascination for tigers has always been there. The way the tiger moves, its eyes, the approach ways, the way it hunts-we decided to include the name of tiger in our team’s name. Couple of years ago, when we came across animal adoption in zoo we started to adopt a tiger which has also brought luck to our team.” Regarding sports persons getting interested in wildlife, Abhishek said, “People have started to understand the necessity of nature and the animals around them. Today the world is moving towards sustainable energy and eco-friendly renewable energy. Hence they don’t want to spoil the earth and instead want to preserve and conserve it.”
Dashing batsman from Karnataka who is representing Hubli Tigers, Mayank Agarwal,“Wildlife is very close to nature and most of us enjoy the nature and spending time in green. It also refreshers our mind away from city life. It is something which has to be felt”.
Joseph Hoover, a wildlife enthusiast who is also into various campaigns to protect tigers and wildlife and instrumental in creating interest about wildlife and conservation of tigers among cricketers and many sports persons said, “A lot of cricketers and sports persons are getting involved in wildlife and its conservation. What these sports persons feel is if they are involved in these type of activities there are possibilities that others too will join them. They are passionate about wildlife. Many cricketers across the state including Karnataka skipper Vinay Kumar, Manish Pandey, Mayank Agarwal, S Aravind and Abhimanya Mithun and whole lot of Karnataka players love wildlife.”
Most of the tigers and elephants in Mysuru Zoo are adopted
C Ravi Shankar, Executive Director, Mysuru Zoo sai,d “The adoption of animals in Mysuru Zoo is gaining momentum every year. We just reminded Sushil Kumar Jindal, the owner of Hubli Tiger team for their tiger adoption renewal. Based on our reminder the family members of Sushil Kumar along with their Hubli Tiger team visited Mysuru Zoo and renewed their tiger adoption for one more year. This is the third year that they are adopting the tiger. If the adoption cost is more than Rs 30,000, the family members of such donors can visit zoo any number of times. Apart from Hubli Tigers, the regular tiger adopters are Yoga legend B K S Iyengar who has adopted two tigers for lifetime, Ramesh and family from Bengaluru. Hubli Tiger team and Karnataka cricket team captain Vinay Kumar has assured to adopt a tiger cub. Its nice to see the sports persons showing keen interest towards wild animals”. There are 16 tigers and 11 elephants in Mysuru Zoo.
If one has to adopt a tiger, they should pay Rs 1 Lakh per year, Rs 1 Lakh for calf elephant,Rs 1.75 Lakh for bigger elephants they should pay Rs 1.75 lakh per year.”
Mallige Veeresh, Chairperson, Zoo Authority of Karnataka also appreciated Hubli Tigers for adopting tiger and wished the team members success in the ongoing KPL tournament.
Annually through animal adoption Zoo gets Rs 35 Lakh to Rs 40 Lakh
Through animal adoption scheme zoo gets Rs 35 Lakh to Rs 40 Lakh every year. Majority of this money comes through adoption of tigers and elephants. Through tiger adoption, zoo is getting nearly Rs 10 Lakh to Rs 12 Lakh while its almost the same with elephants. The zoo gets nearly Rs 12 Lakh through elephant adoption annually. Every year, Mysuru Zoo, just for feeding of animals and birds spends nearly Rs 10 Crore.
