The animal adoption scheme, which was launched in the year 2011 in Haryana, has failed to catch the fancy of animal lovers. launched nearly three years ago, the novelty of the animal adoption has evoked poor response with barely 16 people coming forward to adopt the animals so far. Apart from high-profile takers including former Ministers and IFS officers, there are only few wildlife lovers who had adopted the animals on yearly basis under the unique guardianship scheme.
While more than 100 birds and animals were adopted in 2011, the scheme has gone into limbo with no takers in last two years. Surprisingly, not a single Minister from current state Cabinet has offered to adopt any animal under the scheme. The scheme was launched by the previous Congress led Haryana Government in 2011, taking a cue from Punjab, which had started it a couple of years ago.
Under the scheme, one can contribute manifold in wildlife conservation by adopting animals through providing feed for them monthly/annually and paying charges. Among the incentives, a person adopting an animal is allowed free entry pass for his family to visit the zoo 12 times a year, his name is displayed on a board in the zoo and he is invited as a special guest during various celebrations.
As per the information available with the Haryana Forest Department, a total amount of Rs6,91,400 was collected till now under this scheme. The high-profile takers in 2011 included former Forest Minister Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav who adopted a Black Buck by paying Rs22,500, former MP Naveen Jindal paid Rs5,00,000 for adopting 10 Black Bucks, 1 Spotted Deer, 2 Barking Deers, 5 Bonnet Monkeys, 2 langoor, 6 Cockatiel, 2 Silver Pheasant and one Hog Deer and former Union Minister Kumari Selja adopted one Barn Owl by paying Rs12,000. The list of persons also included names of five IFS officers and a retired sessions judge, Hari Ram who had adopted a baboon while a psychologist, Dr Rajesh Kumar, of Rohtak, adopted 25 budgerigars and a love bird.
The animals were adopted in Bhiwani zoo, Rohtak zoo, Pipli Mini zoo and Hisar Deer Park in Haryana. Although the animal adoption scheme has failed to achieve its intended purpose, the State Government has no plans to either revive it or discontinue it. Earlier a society was also proposed to be constituted to spent the funds collected under the scheme, albeit, the State Government failed to establish any such separate organization so far.
When contacted, Dr Amarinder Kaur, Haryana APCCF (Wildlife) said, “In 2011, many people had come forward to adopt the animals but the response is poor now. The scheme is still going on and one can read about it on Department’s official website to adopt an animal. There is no proposal to discontinue the animal adoption scheme.” “The funds collected under the scheme have been spent for wildlife conservation and no society was being set up for the purpose,” she added when asked about the constitution of a proposed society to spend the collected funds.