How to adopt a tiger

Decide how much you are willing to pay and whether you want full or partial adoption — like sponsoring the entire cost of the year or just food or shelter.

1. Show me the money
Decide how much you are willing to pay and whether you want full or partial adoption — like sponsoring the entire cost of the year or just food or shelter.

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2. Head to the zoo
Approach your nearest zoolgical park which offers the facility of tiger adoption.
Though most of them offer animal adoption in the zoo, few facilitate the adoption of tigers. Famous among them are Mysore, Bangalore, Lucknow, Kanpur, Nainital and Hyderabad.

4. Sign on the dotted line
Sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the zoo authorities. Food for one year, for example, costs around R3 lakh. S/he eats eight kg of meat daily, six days a week. You could choose a favourite name for her/him too.

3. Get the instructions
The zoo will tell you what to do — whether to sponsor food, shelter or upkeep of the tiger. Or how to adopt — full sponsorship or partial and how much it will cost you.

5. My tiger and I
Then follows a photo-shoot with your cheque, like ‘man of the match’. A signboard with your name and contribution will be placed in the zoo. You’re allowed to visit the zoo to see how the animal fares. But you’re not allowed to disturb him/her or compromise its welfare.

Bonal is the head of Central Zoo Authorities. As told to Neyaz Farooquee