Cricketers for Wildlife Conservation honoured forest guards Siddesh D and Tirupathi Pujara with the Wildlife Service Awards on Saturday at the M Chinnaswamy stadium. BCCI President and former India all-rounder Roger Binny felicitated the two unsung heroes of the Karnataka Forest Department.
11th Wildlife Service Awards: This is the eleventh edition of the Wildlife Service Awards. International cricketers - Harbhajan Singh, Murali Vijay, Yusuf Pathan, Sunil Joshi, Varun Aaron, Sandeep Patil, Roger Binny, Rahul Dravid, K L Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and VVS Laxman - have felicitated Karnataka's courageous forest footsoldiers since 2010-11.
Eyes, nose and Ears of Wildlife Landscapes: The Wildlife Service Awards are in recognition of the meritorious service to wildlife conservation of frontline forest staff who are the eyes, nose and ears of wildlife landscapes. They brave the odds to protect our precious and diverse flora and fauna for the benefit of people.
On-ground conservation NGOs: Two noted on-ground conservation NGOs - Rajkumar Devaraje Urs and Meera Chandran were felicitated by Roger Binny.
Siddesh D: Siddesh D. is a beat forester in the Baragi beat of the Omkar Range in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve. A sincere and duty-bound forester, Siddesh has been with the department for the past 5 years. The significant moment in his tenure came when an electrocuted female elephant had to be rescued.
It was on the 14th of February 2023, the female elephant just 40 metres from the Baragi beat boundary was electrocuted in a coconut farm. It took 5-6 hours of continuous monitoring, hydration of the animal, and gentle nudging that finally get the female elephant to walk back into the forest.
At the end of it, the tremendous effort was duly acknowledged and wholeheartedly appreciated by the Honourable Prime Minister and the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change on their respective X handles. Siddesh’s dedication and perseverance have not just led him to attend many Ex-gratia cases, but they have also helped him to track, monitor and assist in apprehending wildlife criminals in the Omkar range. His service towards wildlife conservation has been commendable and praiseworthy.
Tirupathi Pujara: Tirupathi Pujara, is a beat forester in the Bisilwadi beat of the Antharasanthe Wildlife Range in the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve. Hailing from Kushtagi Taluk of Koppala district, Tirupathi Pujara has been a sincere forester at the Antharasanthe Wildlife Range since 2018.
Pujara has been key in preventing the smuggling of deity stones in the range. He possesses special knowledge about Wildlife and its sensibilities and plays a pivotal role in the prevention of forest fires. His special interest includes grassland conservation and development, a critical need in a dry deciduous forest range like Antharasanthe.
His proactiveness, leadership, and good camaraderie with colleagues and senior officers have helped him to prevent wildlife crimes and in turn, protect forest produce from getting illegally removed. Pujara’s service towards wildlife conservation has been prominent and significant.
Meera Chandran: In India, typical wildlife conservation has been about species management. Meera Chandran, and Forest First Samithi though, have organised their wildlife conservation efforts around habitat management. Meera Chandran co-founded Forest First Samithi, an NGO focused on the restoration of degraded lands and conserving Native, Rare, Endangered and Threatened floral species of the Western Ghats.
13 years of dedicated work in the watershed of Brahmagiri hill ranges has involved collaboration with private owners, coffee estate owners, temple committees of sacred groves and Kerala Forest Department to conserve 150 tree and grass species. Since 2020, FFS has been working with local tribal youth in Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary to restore 380 Acres of degraded forest land.
The cornerstone of their restoration efforts in the high human-animal conflict zone of Wayanad is the removal of invasive Senna spectabilis and Lantana camara. A work for which Meera was duly felicitated by the Social Forestry Wing of Kerala Forest Department in November 2022.
Rajkumar Devaraje Urs: Rajkumar Devaraje Urs is a naturalist of a kind. His work and commitment towards wildlife conservation are uncompromising and worthy of appreciation. For instance, his constant monitoring and reporting on wildlife roadkills in Bandipur were instrumental in the issuance of night traffic bans on NH67 and NH212.
A ban that has saved innumerable wildlife from coming under reckless vehicles, and allowing dignified living in their environment. His long and unwavering commitment has resulted in the rescue and rehabilitation of more than 15,000 snakes, including King Cobras, Mugger crocodiles, Leopards, Elephants and countless birds in feasible forested habitats.
As an NTCA representative, Rajkumar has tracked Tiger and Leopard deaths in Bandipur, Nagarahole and BRT Tiger Reserves, and coordinated 100s of post mortems with the Karnataka Forest Department. An honorary Wildlife Warden, an educator, a surveyor, and a publisher, Rajkumar’s decades of honesty and dedication towards wildlife conservation calls for this humble recognition, the Wildlife Service Award 2023.
-Report and Photo Courtesy: Joseph Hoover
Great article on the unsung heroes who are putting their efforts for maintaining ecology. Kuppuswamy
ReplyDeleteThese awardees are our real heroes,who work courageously to maintain the ecology.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate the dedicated efforts of forest rangers Siddesh D and Tirupathi Pujara. Rightly conferred with accolades by Cricketing greats.
ReplyDeleteThey have set an excellent example to others in the team.
Meera Chandran, reforestation of such a vast area acknowledge your dedication to rebuilding habitat. Grateful for your efforts through 13 long years. Wishing you and your NGO greater success.
Rajkumar Devaraje Urs, thanks for your wildlife conservation efforts.