Minister collects Rs 73.16L, donates to zoo

District In-charge Minister S T Somashekar has collected Rs 73.16 lakh, which he donated to the city-based Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens (Mysuru Zoo), on Wednesday.

The minister urged his supporters to contribute funds to the zoo, after he learnt about its financial condition during his visit on April 22. Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, the zoo is closed for tourists and there is no income since the lockdown. Thus, the minister had given a call to his supporters to raise funds.

The minister handed over a cheque to Mysuru Zoo Executive Director Ajit Kulakarni in the presence of MLAs S A Ramdas and L Nagendra, Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G Sankar and Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner Gurudatta Hegde.

Thanking the minister, the director of the zoo said that the zoo is a self-sustained organisation as it is not receiving any funds from the state government since 2002. “But, this time, we need funds from the government, as there is no income. The funds from selling tickets and funds from animal adoption scheme are the major source of income for the zoo,” he said.

The zoo has 152 species of birds and houses more than 1,450 specimens belonging to 168 species, representing more than 30 countries.

The director said, “The people interested to adopt animals under the adoption scheme, can do it online. All the details are available on the zoo website. The people can pay charges online.”

It has to be noted that the minister adopted a female elephant Chamundi for a period of one year, by paying Rs 1.75 lakh recently. He also had paid Rs 25,000 to feed tigers at Mysuru Zoo for a day.