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Rahul Gandhi gets a birthday gift. White tiger in Hampi zoo is under his care now
Siddu Hallegouda, the president of the rural Congress youth wing from Ballari and Vijayanagara, deposited the amount on June 19 towards the adoption of White tiger.
To mark Rahul Gandhi's 51st birthday, Congress' Karnataka youth unit adopted a white tiger at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Zoological Park in Hampi for a year under the former party president's name. An amount of ₹100,000 was also deposited with the zoo authorities for the adoption of the tiger, Arjuna.
Siddu Hallegouda, the president of the rural Congress youth wing from Ballari and Vijayanagara, deposited the amount on June 19. "On Rahul Gandhi's birthday, the Bellary Rural Youth Congress has adopted a white tiger in the Vajpayee Wildlife Sanctuary, under the chairmanship of the Youth Congress Local Committee Chairman Sidhu Hallegowda," Karnataka wing of the Congress party tweeted.
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The tweet also has the image of the party workers with what appeared to be the adopted white tiger and the receipt of ₹100,000 towards the adoption was also attached. “We were planning to do some social work to mark Rahul Gandhi’s birthday. Hence, we decided to adopt a tiger in our leader’s name as zoos are facing a fund crunch,” The New Indian Express quoted Hallegouda as saying.
The tweet showed the certificate of adoption under the name of Gandhi for a period of one year from June 18, 2021, to June 18, 2022. The National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the party, Karnataka president also retweeted the post.
The zoo authorities said that the adoption process usually happens online and a certificate is then issued. “More than ₹1 crore has been collected from individuals and organisations over the last few weeks after the actor appealed to people to adopt zoo animals in Karnataka. Most of the adoptions were from Mysuru and Bannerghatta zoo in Bengaluru," an official of the Karnataka zoo authority said, according to the New Indian Express.
The rise in the adoption of zoo animals is helping authorities maintain the animals and facilities as the coronavirus pandemic has hit the footfall at zoos.
In April 1973, Project Tiger was launched as part of the country's tiger conservation programmer by the Union government led by the former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
