Turning foster parents for the five peacocks at the city zoo are the members of the nature club at the Carmel Girls’ Higher Secondary School.
On Friday afternoon near the zoo enclosure for the peacocks, the students handed over a sum of Rs.8,000 to Minister for Museums and Zoos P.K. Jayalakshmi.
The amount will be used for providing food and veterinary care to the birds for a year.
“It is our national bird and this is just our little contribution. The schools take part in a number of social service activities and when this idea was floated a couple of months ago, we started saving money from donations and earnings from our activities,” said Parvathi S., one of the club members.
A similar function was held in July when the Lions’ Club International adopted a nine-year-old tiger, Rahul, which handed over an adoption certificate to a representative of the clubwas just recovering from a deadly infection. Zoo Director K. Udayavarman said this move by schoolchildren made for an even more poignant occasion.
Ms. Jayalakshmi expressed her gratitude for this gesture and she handed over an adoption certificate to a representative of the club, along with five passes. “These passes allow five club members to visit the zoo at any time of the year. They can also attend to the birds along with the zookeeper while feeding them,” Mr. Udayavarman said.
