Hyderabad, Tollywood actor Ram Charan's wife and superstar K. Chiranjeevi's daughter-in-law, Upasana Kamineni Konidela, on Monday adopted an elephant at the Nehru Zoological Park (NZP) here for a period of one year.

Upasana, who is also Vice Chairperson of Apollo Foundation & Apollo Life and owner and editor of 'B-Positive' health and lifestyle magazine, presented a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to NZP Curator N. Kshitija.

The curator thanked her for adopting 'Rani' for one year, thereby strengthening the wildlife conservation programme of the Zoo. She hoped that her gesture would inspire many to come forward to adopt animals of the NZP during the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Saturday, Ravi Venkataramanan, CEO, Aurigene Pharmaceutical Services Ltd, had adopted a male Royal Bengal tiger named 'Prabhas' for one year. He had presented a cheque of Rs 1 lakh.

The Zoo, which has suffered a loss of over Rs 5 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. They, however, denied that there is any shortage of funds for animal feed.

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 annually.