Abandoned by their foster parents after the craze for adoption fizzled out, many animals, including lions and tigers, in Kolkata Zoo have become orphans once again.
This season only a handful - just nine animals have so far been lucky to have found someone to sponsor their living costs in the cage.
The picture was different when the 140-year-old zoo started an animal adoption scheme in the middle of 2013 and corporates and animal lovers made a beeline to make a difference in the lives of the animals.
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"42 animals were adopted right at the beginning. The craze for adopting a tiger or a lion was such that we received more applications than the number of those animals in the zoo," former zoo director K L Ghosh told PTI.
A year later the craze started to wear off and only 12 patrons were found for adopting 25 animals.
This year the picture is bleaker as the authorities are struggling to find takers for even their most prized assets.
Besides lions, even tigers, elephants, rhinos and leopards - pride of any forest - are waiting for support from a foster parent.
"Many of them (patrons) are not renewing their contracts with us. We are trying our best to get as many wildlife lovers on board with us," Zoo director Ashish Kumar Samanta said.
Spread over 45 acres in Alipore, the zoo is the country's oldest formally stated zoological park and is now home to over 1250 animals.
Ghosh said the idea behind the adoption scheme is not to
generate revenue for the zoo but to create a sense of bonding and attachment between animals and public.
"It goes beyond getting corporate sponsorship and tries to attract common people who love animals and birds. If they cannot afford sponsoring a tiger then they can adopt macaws which come cheap at Rs 10,000," he said.
Zoo officials said two tigers and an elephant are among those adopted this season.
The zoo has five Bengal tigers and three white ones. Besides three hybrid lions, there is a pair of Asiatic lions brought from Hyderabad.
Animal adopters not only get a certificate along with the adoption card, they also get complimentary passes for zoo entry and the permission to use the animal's photograph for publication.
The name of the adopter is also put up on a board near the animal's enclosure.
The rate for adopting lion, tiger, elephant, rhino and leopard, all big specie of the jungles, was increased by Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh each last year.
"Since the costs are rising we are keeping the adoption rates in tune with inflation. I don't think that money is an issue for those who want to adopt animals. There are people who can afford the costs. What we need is marketing," B R Sharma, member-secretary of West Bengal Zoo Authority, said.
A new drive will be launched soon to rejuvenate the adoption scheme. "We will start a new publicity campaign to spread awareness on the scheme," he added.
