Gland Pharma adopts 27 zoo animals
In the single biggest instance after the Nehru Zoological Park introduced its animal adoption scheme, 27 animals of different species were adopted for one year by Gland Pharma Ltd., Hyderabad, as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity. Among the animals adopted by Gland Pharma are lions, a giraffe, a rhinoceros, a hippopotamus, a cheetah, an ostrich, bear, wolf, pelicans, vultures, flamingos and deer. Company CSR head Raghuraman and members P. Sampath Kumar and Shilpli Sahay handed over a cheque for `20 lakh to zoo’s deputy curator A. Nagamani for the adoptions on Friday.
“We really wanted to adopt a tiger too but were told all the tigers were already adopted by SBI,” Sampath Kumar told Deccan Chronicle. The nearly crestfallen ‘zoo parents’, however, were informed that a tiger cub was available for adoption, which was immediately agreed to. Asked what prompted his firm to go in for such a large zoo animal adoption exercise, Sampath Kumar, said his company has many activities under its CSR initiatives including providing food for school children in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. “I am a member of the Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society and when I proposed that we adopt animals in the zoo, the CSR team and the company agreed to it. Flora and fauna are one part of our CSR spread and that got us to the zoo,’ he said.After the adoption formalities were completed, the Gland Pharma officials were taken around the zoo and the enclosures of the animals the firm adopted. Nagamani explained that the Covid19 pandemic related closure of the zoo between March and October which resulted in revenue losses and the adoption by Gland Pharma would be of great help to the zoo.