celebrating Wildlife Week in India

International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) - Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) organised various fun-filled activities for school students in Assam to raise awareness about wildlife conservation.

The IFAW – WTI run Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) felicitated two individuals – a five year old schoolboy and a senior journalist, five decades older.

Suraj Sahu, a five-year-old student, from Sapjuri area of Bokakhat was honoured by Dr Biswajit Boruah. This young boy had rescued a Schedule 1 specie (spotted pond turtle) during the recent floods in Kaziranga and handed it over to CWRC. He was presented a traditional Assamese Gamosa, a certificate and a richly illustrated book on fauna.

Mr Bhabananda Kalita, a senior journalist, who has been actively writing on conservation for more than 15 years, was recognised for having documented all published reports about CWRC in an Assamese vernacular with old photographs. He was presented with with a letter of appreciation signed by IFAW-WTI Executive Director Vivek Menon.

The team organised a popular science talk followed by a quiz at the Regional Science Centre (RSC) in Khanapara as part of the four day Wildlife Week celebrations targeted at schools around Guwahati.

Children from different schools of the city participated in the interactive talk on species by Dr Rathin Burman and the quiz champions walked away with attractive prizes.

The RSC authorities conducted an on-the-spot drawing competition followed by an exhibition on popular wildlife species.

Screening of documentaries on environment including the IFAW- WTI Animal Action Education films was also organised. More than 2000 students from different schools and educational institutions of northeast took part in these activities.

More than 200 school students from Shankadev Shishu Niketan (SSN), a renowned educational institute of Bokakhat held an awareness rally wherein students carried banners, placards and messages to create awareness about wildlife conservation amongst locals. School children took part in the art competition on the theme -- Wildlife and Kaziranga.

“It is always worth the effort to have such conservation awareness programmes aimed at creating awareness amongst children,” said Burman. The winners were given prizes and IFAW-WTI also donated a water filter for the welfare of the students of the school.

These events around Kaziranga and in Guwahati build hope in the next generation that is sensitised to protect its natural heritage and empowered to take action and we hope to see more positive action like five-year-old Suraj has demonstrated.