Hyderabad, Sep 12 (IANS): A 12-year-old student has adopted a tiger at Nehru Zoological Park (NZP) here for three months by spending his birthday budget.

Chinmay Siddharth Shah, a class 7 student of a city school, has come forward to adopt a Royal Bengal Tiger named "Sankalp".

He along with his father Siddharth Kantilal Shah visited the office of the curator and handed over a cheque of Rs 25,000 to Deputy Curator A.Nagamani towards adoption of the tiger for a period of three months.

Five other children also presented a cheque of Rs 5,000 each to adopt nocturnal animals and small birds.

Havisha Jain and Vihaan Atul Shah, Preksha, Priyal, Dhwani and Bhakti Nagda handed over the cheques to NZP official.

Nagamani thanked the children for showing great gesture, love and affection towards the conservation of wildlife by adopting the tiger and birds in the Zoo Park. She also appealed to the citizens to come forward in more numbers and adopt the animals.

The zoo, which has suffered a loss of more than Rs 6 crore due to the ban on entry of visitors since March 22, is looking for celebrities and businessmen to come forward and adopt the animals, by sponsoring their expenses for a fixed period.

The officials hope that this gesture would help the zoo tide over the financial constraint triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In July, Tollywood actor Ram Charan's wife and superstar K. Chiranjeevi's daughter-in-law, Upasana Kamineni konidela came forward to adopt an elephant for one year.

A businessman also adopted a Royal Bengal tiger for one year.

Spread over 300 acres, the zoo is home to nearly 181 indigenous and exotic species, including 1,716 animals, birds, and reptiles.

Known as one of the best zoos in Asia, it attracts around 30 lakh visitors every year on an average.