The century-old Mysuru zoo, which is closed since over a month in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, on Wednesday received a donation of ₹73 lakh to meet its overheads.
This contribution came from the patrons, animal lovers and wildlife enthusiasts from Yeshwanthpur constituency in Bengaluru which is represented by Minister in-charge of Mysuru district S.T. Somashekar.
Mr. Somashekar, who had recently adopted a female elephant for one year paying a fee of ₹1.75 lakh and had also met one-day’s feeding cost of 16 zoo tigers, handed over the cheque to the zoo Executive Director Ajit Kulkarni on Wednesday.
The zoo does not get any financial aid from the government and is run solely on the entry fee of visitors. The zoo sees an average footfall of 8,000 to 10,000 daily. The income has shrunk with no footfalls since it had been shut much before the lockdown as a precaution to combat the contagion.
The Minister, after learning about the revenue loss and the expenses incurred daily on meeting the animals’ feed and maintenance besides the staff salaries, sought contributions to the zoo from the animal lovers and wildlife enthusiasts in his constituency.