In a bid to cherish the memories of her deceased pet dog, Garima Malvanker, who resides in Gujarat’s Vadodara, decided to adopt a leopard. Garima’s furry friend Pluto passed away last year due to sudden illness, which left her in overwhelming grief. After the death of Pluto, grief-stricken Garima decided to never share her love with another pet again, however, she still wished to celebrate Pluto’s memories. This decision made her visit Vadodara’s Sayaji Baug Zoo, wherein a leopard grabbed her attention, and then she adopted the feline. In a recent conversation with The Times of India, Garima opened up about her experience.
While talking about her entire journey with Pluto, Garima said: “Pluto was born on June 24. I was very close to my Labrador and it was more like a family member and we never kept it on a leash. After Pluto died, I wanted to do something special in its memory. So, I decided to adopt an animal on Pluto’s birthday,” reported TOI. Despite Garima feeding the stray dogs, she wished to do something more special. She added, “I inquired about animal adoption at Sayaji Baug zoo and finally zeroed in on a leopard. I plan to continue with the adoption for at least five years.”
Garima, who works in the state assembly, revealed that there are many takers for the birds, but rarely do people take initiative to take the responsibilities of the big cats. The report also quoted Sayaji Baug zoo curator Pratyush Patankar as saying that such adoption initiatives by the people help the authority in spreading awareness about wild animals and birds. This further helps in the well-being of such wildlife.
The zoo curator further informed, “The funds go into the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) corpus.” In addition, Pratyush revealed that as of now, they have about “16 donors who have adopted birds as well as animals,” and once a person takes the initiative of adopting animals, the authorities issue the donors a “certificate of appreciation.” This keeps their spirits high and pushes them to take similar initiatives in the future.
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