Youngsters enjoy at Party Animals, an event organised by IIT Kanpur Alumni Association, Jamshedpur, at Nicco Jubilee Amusement Park on Saturday. Telegraph picture

Residents of Jamshedpur partied on Saturday only to pave way for a pair of the world’s largest birds to make Tata Steel Zoological Park their home.

The city chapter of IIT-Kanpur Alumni Association along with Intach and Tata zoo hosted a musical night — Party Animals — to spread awareness among denizens so that they donate generously and help the zoo get an ostrich couple from Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in Chennai next year.

The pair of ostriches will cost around Rs 4 lakh.

The bird couple will join a female ostrich at the zoo that was brought from the southern varsity in 2009.

The programme at Nicco Jubilee Amusement Park proved to be a huge success. The organisers spoke about the need to raise funds for the development of the zoo.

“It was a grand success with a crowd of more than 1,000 people at the venue. Plans are afoot to organise fund-raising events to pool in money that would help us get the pair of ostriches next year from Chennai,” said zoo director Bipul Chakrabarty.

The programme saw a Ranchi-based musical band, Iron Horses, and DJ Jennifer from Calcutta playing offbeat numbers with environment conservation as the theme.

The party started at 5:30pm and continued for three hours during which peppy music, messages on conservation and awareness to work and raise funds for the zoo rent the air.

The next plan is to involve schoolchildren.

Armed with an authorisation letter from the zoo, students of 20 schools will collect money from their neighbourhood and deposit the sum with the institute. Later, representatives of the schools will visit the zoo and hand over the cash. A part of the money will also be given for developing the zoo according to the master plan.

The master plan is a four-phase project that proposes reorganisation of the entire zoo by improving existing infrastructure.

Central Zoo Authority had given the nod to the draft, aimed at better conservation of wildlife, two years ago.

The first phase includes strengthening and extending of the zoo boundary wall, dismantling the existing zoo office and building a bonnet macaque enclosure. Also in the pipeline is a cloakroom and restrooms for visitors.

The total budget for the 20-year project is Rs 20 crore.

IIT-Kanpur alumni members are keen to generate Rs 20 lakh through donation and fund-raising events.

“We are trying our best. Party Animals has been a success and we will try to collect as much money as possible,” said secretary of the city chapter of IIT-Kanpur Alumni Association Ishant Jain.