Animal care: Babra Sharif adopts ailing lion cub

LAHORE:

Actress Babra Sharif adopted on Wednesday a lion cub at Lahore Zoo. She named the cub Shenko, after a Russian footballer. 

“The name means courageous and bold,” said Kiran Saleem, an education officer at Lahore Zoo.

Saleem said the actress had adopted a cub for a year and had paid the zoo Rs200,000 for it. “This covers the yearly cost for the cub’s food and care,” she said.

Read: No kidding around: Baby ibex rescued from G-B lawmaker

Saleem said the zoo offered adoption schemes with an educational purpose. “We want to raise awareness about animal care,” she said.

Further, the education officer at Lahore zoo said that mostly universities participated in animal adoption programmes. She said universities put up their institution’s name at the adopted animal’s enclosure.

“Students feel an affiliation towards the animal that has been adopted by their institution,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2015.