Citizens can now be in the league of actor Priyanka Chopra and Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The leading Bollywood actress donated a Rs 2-lakh cheque to Birsa Jaivik Udyan in Ranchi for the upkeep of tigress Durga last month, while Dhoni adopted a tiger, Agasthya, in Mysore zoo last year for Rs 1 lakh.

Citizens can now feel the same joy by adopting animals at Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park.

Abhay Kumar, director of Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park said: “The state environment and forest department department approved the animal adoption scheme for the zoo on July 3. We would launch the scheme within a fortnight once we finish printing pamphlets, releasing advertisements and making announcements.”

Under the animal adoption scheme, individuals or families can adopt animals from six months to one year. Commercial firms can adopt animals from one to five years. The enclosures can also be adopted for one to three years and the entire zoo at Rs 25,000 for a day.

The zoo authorities will give the adopter an array of privileges. “The animal adoption scheme is aimed at direct bonding between people and wild animals and encourage their conservation. The amount realised as adoption charges would be utilised for the feed and upkeep of animals. For this, the adopter would get some privileges. Their names would be displayed prominently to give them recognition and to inspire more and more people to become a part of this scheme,” said the zoo director.

The adopters would get a certificate of animal adoption along with zoo souvenir, free zoo publications, passes for the orientation in zoo, free entry passes and permission to host get-together on the zoo premises besides other facilities.

The name of the adopter(s) would also be included in the annual report of the zoo and displayed near the enclosure on a board. “Interested individuals/ families/institutions would have to deposit the entire adoption amount through cheque/ bankers’ cheque/demand draft at the zoo director’s office. The amount would be deposited in the treasury like other revenue receipts of the zoo and the details would be maintained separately,” the director said.

Sources said the animal adoption scheme is popular in many zoos across the country, including Mysore, Hydera-bad, Pune and Bhopal. “The upkeep of animals is costly. For instance, food and medical expenses of an elephant is around Rs 35,000 a month, while for a giraffe, it is Rs 25,000. The park spends Rs 75 lakh every year on food and medicines of its inmates,” said the director.

Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park is one of the 21 large zoological gardens in the country and the only one in the state. There are almost 1,200 animals and birds in the park, which is spread over 153 acres.