Actress Priyanka Chopra and (above) Sundari, the lioness, at Birsa zoo in Ranchi

Ranchi, June 2: Bollywood’s original wild cat Priyanka Chopra has roared for Birsa zoo once again, but this time in favour of the queen of the jungle and not the royalty in stripes.

The actress — known for her enthusiasm for nature and wildlife — has evinced interest in adopting a lioness with a contribution of Rs 2 lakh instead of renewing her deal for foster daughter Durga, the zoo tigress in Ormanjhi, Ranchi.

A demand draft (signed 13-04-2012) was received by the zoo authorities on Friday morning along with a note that read, ‘save wildlife, save animal’.

Elated zoo director P.K. Verma said they had two lionesses — Sundari and Saraswati — and the former would be Priyanka’s new feline foster daughter.

“Her second consecutive association with the zoo is a testimony to her benevolence towards wildlife,” Verma said.

Last April, Priyanka — who has immortalised Shah Rukh ‘Don’ Khan’s love interest “junglee billi” Roma in the remake sequel of the 1978 Bollywood blockbuster — had adopted Birsa zoo tigress Durga. The adoption period expired on April 30 this year. And this time, the actress chose a lioness.

“She is doing her bit to create awareness about wildlife conservation and does not want to restrict attention to just one species. She began with the endangered (according to IUCN) Royal Bengal Tiger and, now, she has moved to the second largest living cat that is also listed as ‘vulnerable’. We hope to receive her unending support in the future as well,” Verma said.

The zoo had more reasons to rejoice on Friday.

Verma said two Ranchi residents — Ramesh Chakraborty and Indira Chakraborty — had adopted a langur and an eagle.

“While the former has contributed Rs 16,000 for the simian, the eagle has been adopted for 8,000,” he added.

Birsa zoo has around 1,200 animals.

The animal adoption programme was launched over a year ago and the authorities are now upbeat with the overwhelming response.

“Slowly and steadily, the awareness about wildlife conservation is increasing,” Verma said.

Currently, the zoo’s foster parents include SAIL, which took charge of three elephants, Mecon which stepped in as the guardian of tiger Sugreev and three leopards and Punjab National Bank that took under its wing seven peacocks.

All these animals have been adopted for a period of five years. The adoption scheme may soon offer tax benefit to foster parents.

Verma said they had filed an application in this regard four months ago and were expecting positive results within a couple of months.