(IN): Pori finds US-based dad

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Link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080820/jsp/guwahati/story_9715348.jsp

 

*Pori finds US-based dad *

* - Entrepreneur adopts six-year-old rhino for a year with a cheque for Rs 1

lakh, plans to make website*

 

A STAFF REPORTER

 

*Aug. 19:* With love for Pori, from Washington.

 

Pori, a six-year-old female rhino at the Assam state zoo, today found an NRI

from Assam, Vavani Sarmah, to take care of her for the next year.

 

" I would have loved to adopt her for a lifetime but rules say it can be done

only for a year, " Sarmah, an entrepreneur, said at a function held at the

zoo today.

 

Sarmah is a computer science graduate from Jorhat Engineering College. He

left for the US in 1998 and started a software company, Clearwin

Technologies, in 2005.

 

Pori was born in the zoo on June 6, 2002. Her mother Baghekhaiti was from

Kaziranga while father Vishnu belonged to the zoo.

 

Sarmah, an avid animal lover who arrived here in the beginning of this

month, met divisional forest officer Narayan Mahanta to know about the

programmes at the zoo.

 

" I was keen to do something for wildlife conservation and was interested in

adopting an animal. When I found that the zoo had such a programme, I got

the details and decided to adopt Pori, " he said.

 

Expressing concern over the killing of rhinos in Assam, Sarmah said people

should be aware of the importance of the state animal.

 

" Last year, the pictures of rhinos killed by poachers had shocked

everybody, " he added.

 

Sarmah, who was accompanied by his family, handed over a cheque for Rs 1

lakh to the zoo authorities for the upkeep of the rhino. The money would

mainly cover the cost of Pori's diet.

 

Sarmah plans to develop a website on Pori so that people around the world

know about her. He also plans to make a DVD on the state zoo.

 

Dispur had approved the animal adoption programme at the zoo recently to get

more people to adopt animals.

 

In July, Parul Devi Das, the additional chief secretary adopted Dhundhun,

the stump-tailed macaque, for a year.

 

" I hope no rhino gets killed from next year, " Sarmah, who is also on the

board of Friends of Assam and Seven Sisters (FASS), said. He hoped that all

the 750 animals in the zoo find adopters and added that the FASS would try

to get people to adopt these animals.

 

Mahanta said it was a great day for the zoo as its programme of animal

adoption had met with success.

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