E-Paper
Students, schools told to adopt zoo animals
DIVISIONAL COMMISSIONER Anita Bhatnagar-Jain urged the schoolchildren that they should actively contribute for the conservation of wild animals as their extinction may disturb the equilibrium of nature.
DIVISIONAL COMMISSIONER Anita Bhatnagar-Jain urged the schoolchildren that they should actively contribute for the conservation of wild animals as their extinction may disturb the equilibrium of nature.
Speaking at the valedictory session of the Wildlife Week celebrations at the zoo on Saturday, she advised the schoolchildren that they should save at least Rs 5 a month and collectively adopt a bird or an animal at the zoo and look after its rearing.
She also asked the school authorities present at the zoo to encourage schoolchildren for animal adoption and make them realise the importance of these animals in the forest and also in the life of human beings.
She said that the existence of wild animals was necessary for the ecological balance and realising this fact the animals were given an exalted status in the Hindu mythology and many of them were even declared as objects of worship.
Some of the animals were also held as the means of transport for deities.
She said that a forest without wild life was of no use. It could not provide solace and eternal peace to human beings. Besides, the lush green trees and weed in the forest, the chirping of birds, roaring of tigers and growling of bears enthralled people in the forest.
She told the schoolchildren that if they failed to conserve the wild animals today, after 50 years they would become extinct like Dinosaurs.
In his address, Zoo Director R Hemant Kumar said that during the past one year the zoo had been able to provide quality education, quality recreation and quality information to the visitors for about 30 lakh hours.
Explaining the concept of 30 lakh hours, the director said that about six lakh visitors came to zoo between October 1,2005 to October 1,2006. On an average, a single visitor stayed at the zoo for five hours. If the number of total visitors was multiplied by the hours each visitor spent here, the net result was 30 lakh hours during which the visitors came to know about the wildlife along-with entertaining themselves.
Kumar said that the zoo could be benefited more through individual efforts.
Citing an example, he said that the weeklong celebrations could be possible due to fiscal assistance from private bodies like Sanjivan Bottles Limited, Wildlife SOS, an NGO and Pepsi as the government did not provide any budget for the celebrations.
Like the divisional commissioner, he also appealed to the school managements to adopt animals according to their financial status.
On the occasion, over 300 children were given prizes for winning different competitions.
According to a rough estimate over 10,000 children visited the zoo and about 2000 of them participated in various competitions.
Prizes were given away by the divisional commissioner Jain.
