The Animal Adoption Scheme started by Van Vihar National Park in 2009 saw daylight on Wednesday after two tigers were adopted by State Bank of India (SBI). The bank has adopted tiger ‘Panna’ and white tigress ‘Riddhi’ to mark its contribution towards the environment and wildlife conservation. Animal Adoption Scheme was introduced by the park about 12 years ago but it could not yield expected results. After a huge gap, a tiger has been adopted by the bank. SBI Chief General Manager Binod Kumar Mishra granted Rs 4,00,000 via a cheque to the Park Director H C Gupta for tigers’ adoption. Director H C Gupta handed over all the documents of both the tigers ‘Panna’ and ‘Riddhi’ for adoption purpose. On January 31, 2010, tigress ‘Seeta’ was adopted by SBI for one year. Since the beginning of Animal Adoption Scheme, only 15 animals have been adopted from Van Vihar till date. Total 82 animals have been adopted by various organisations in the past 12 years.

 

Banks located in Bhopal played a major role in animal adoption especially tigers. Being most expensive, tigers have been mostly adopted by banks. According to reports, during year 2009, 18 animals were adopted, in 2010, 12 animals were adopted, in 2011, 5 animals were adopted, in 2012, 5 animals were adopted, in 2013, 7 animals were adopted, in 2014, five animals were adopted, in year 2015, 3 animals were adopted, in year 2016, 7 animals were adopted from Van Vihar. During year 2017, 6 animals were adopted and again in 2018, 3 animals were adopted. In 2019, only two animals were adopted, in 2020 two animals were adopted and in 2021 three animals were adopted.