Now, Kolkata zoo lets you adopt your own royal Bengal tiger

Mom, can I have a Royal Bengal tiger for my birthday?Yes, beta, you can.Even better you don’t have to house train your new “pet” or clean up after it.The tiger mom is becoming a reality in Kolkata.Kolkata Alipore Zoo is thrilled with its Adopt an Animal scheme which had the city’s industrialist types lining up to adopt the animal of their choice.R S Agarwal and R S Goenka of the Emami group adopted a Royal Bengal tiger and an elephant.Sanjay Budhia of the Patton Group went for the one-horned rhinoceros.Harsh Neotia of the Ambuja Neotia group took charge of the white tiger.With adoption costs ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh a year, the zoo has mopped up about 30 lakh. One unnamed official told the media they wished they had priced it higher. They were surprised at how enthusiastic the city’s tycoons were about adopting animals. Some 40 animals were up for adoption this time around.They should have guessed. Some of the same business families exhibited similar enthusiasm about snapping up Mamata Banerjee’s paintings.But the zoo insists this is not just about money, though heaven knows the zoo, increasingly run down and shabby, needs cash. This is about conservation and spreading awareness and getting the citizenry involved in the local zoo.The zoo has had to issue strict guidelines about what adoption means.No, you cannot take your adopted elephant out of the zoo for marriage ceremonies or birthday parties.No, you cannot pose inside the cage with your newly adopted marmoset.No, you cannot bring your entire extended family and business clients you want to impress to show off your Royal Bengal tiger. Only four at a time. And on weekdays.Yes, there will be a sign with your name or your company’s name on it. Yes, you get free passes to visit the zoo. Yes, you will get updates about how your animal is doing and you can celebrate its birthday.[caption id="attachment_1010919" align="alignleft" width="380"] A Royal Bengal tiger at Kolkata Zoo. Reuters[/caption]Adopting an animal is not unusual around the world. Many zoos do it including the world famous San Diego Zoo. Even in India, the Darjeeling zoo experimented with this idea before Alipore zoo. Alipore Zoo is a little different because unlike San Diego this is a zoo that has fallen on hard times. Once a visit to the zoo was a winter must for all Kolkata families with children. But gradually empty cages, huddled listless animals, cramped quarters robbed the zoos of any childhood magic. On weekends the zoo is still hugely crowded with busloads coming in from suburban towns for their “chiriakhana” experience. But the zoo really only makes news when it’s bad news.One day it’s a story about marmosets being stolen. On another day it’s allegations of neglect leading to the death of its kangaroos.Perhaps Adopt an Animal can actually be of some good apart from generating revenue for the zoo if it manages to do any of the following.One, if it helps to keep the zoo on its toes about the animals it houses, good for it. Surely no zoo official wants to be on the receiving end of a call from Harsh Neotia asking why his tiger is looking a little mangy.Two, if it inspires some civic pride in a zoo that’s been around since 1876 that’s good. "Adoption will help improve the living conditions of the zoo animals," actress and MP Debasree Roy, now the proud mother of an elephant told The Times of India. If it forces the zoo to take care of the enclosures and not just the animals, even better. But does “awareness” mean that the people who like to stand outside the big cat enclosure and toss ice cream sticks and peanuts at snoozing lions for fun, will desist from doing so? That kind of courtesy, sadly, is something money cannot buy. Three, if it forces the entitled to realize the limits of ownership that money can buy, that’s an unintended plus. Arinjan Mazumdar who adopted five animals for Rs 4.3 lakh told The Telegraph, “The best thing about adopting these animals is that every time I want to see them, it’s I who’ll have to go to them despite the fact that I’m paying the adoption money. Such a humbling experience.” If that’s what it takes to teach us humility, then that’s what it takes.But hopefully this won’t just turn into the latest fashion accessory to boast about at school. Entrepreneur Sandip Sinha Roy got his eight-year-old daughter a leopard which surely gives the girl serious bragging rights at school.In fact, clearly not all animals are created equal. Everyone wants the tigers and elephants but half the animals put up for adoption didn’t find any takers while Sinha Roy’s wife couldn’t get the zebra she wanted. Luckily, the animals don’t know they were up for adoption. So their self esteem won’t be punctured.But the business tycoons who picked up a cute animal or two might also think about putting some of that energy into saving wetland and forest cover especially when they embark on big development projects. Saving the forest for a tiger to run wild is not as good a party conversation piece as adopting one, but the tiger would probably appreciate it more.