Becoming a ‘zoo parent’ very easy

● Main objective of the programme is to educate the public on the importance of animals and provide them with an opportunity to be partners in protecting them

An ‘Animal Adoption Programme” was launched by the National Zoological Gardens Department (Dehiwala Zoo) to help offset the annual cost of caring for the zoo animals with the participation of adults as well as children.

Its Director General, Thilak Premakantha, said the programme has been implemented to support their involvement as well as their role in animal conservation.

The main objective of the programme is to educate the public on the importance of animals and provide them with an opportunity to be partners in protecting the animals and also to provide opportunities for those who are interested in helping animals in the zoo.

According to the programme, separate packages such as silver, gold, diamond and platinum have been introduced.

The silver package for the donation for adoption level is between Rs.200,000 and Rs.300,000. Gold package will be between Rs.300,001 and Rs.400,000. The diamond package will be a donation between Rs.400,001 and Rs.500,000. The platinum package donation will be above Rs.500,000.

The silver package will have facilities such as a photo of the adopted animal, personalized adoption certificate, a fact sheet with species information, special event invitation and an opportunity to visit the park under the Zoological Gardens Department free of charge for eight members.

The gold package includes a photo of the adopted animal, a personalized adoption certificate, a fact sheet with species information, a special event invitation, two chances to visit the park functioning under the Zoological Gardens Department free of charge for eight members and three car passes for an entire year.

The diamond package includes a photo of the adopted animal, personalized adoption certificate, a fact sheet with species information, special event invitation, three visits to the park functioning under the Zoological Gardens free of charge for eight members, five car passes for the year, framed photograph of your family along with the certificate for the adopted animal, annual zoo passes for five family members, 10% discount for the memorial shop and 50% discount on birthday packages.