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Rescue Report
World EnvironmentDay celebration
White Bellied HeronConservation
organized World Environment Day 2007 in two phases with the support from Zoo Outreach Organization & CEE-North East.
The first programme was a daylong workshop to promote the knowledge on wildlife conservation among the students
at Birjhora H. S. School , Bongaigaon, Assam on 5th June 07 and second one was a field trip and awareness campaign at Ultapani Forest Village under Holtugaon Division of Chirang RF on 6th June 07.
On 5th June 07 The inaugural function was started with the plantation programme at Bright Star English Medium School ,
Bongaigaon the workshop at Birjhora H. S. School of Bongaigaon District, Assam . The workshop started with an introductory
speech by Mr. Pulin Ch. Choudhary, Principal of Birjhora H. S. School and Mr. J. Barman, Teacher and Teacher in charge of Eco Club , Birjhora H. S. School . Mr. A.J.Bora from Down To Earth was the Key resource person of the programme. The programme was attended by 35 participants . Among others, the appreciable presence of the Executive members of Nature’s Foster viz. Mr. L. Nath, Mr. S.N.Sen, Mr. K. J. Mazumdar, Mr. R. Soud, Mr. A. Bose, Mr. S. Sutradhar and Mr.B.C.Roy. The whole programme was coordinated by Mr. K. J. Mazumdar, Secy, Education , Nature’s Foster. Mr. A.J.Borha had given a brief idea about the present scenario of environmental crisis through a case study on the existing open cast mining in the coalfields of Upper Assam . Mr.S.N.Sen gave a talk on the activity of the organization with a video
documentary. Mr. Rakesh Soud presented a slide show on the primates of North East India. He had discussed several issues of primate conservation with special references to Hoolock Gibbon. He also conducted various environmental games among the participants and distributed educational materials on Hoolock Gibbon developed by ZOO. Mr. A. Bose, who has been working with the communities, delivered an attractive presentation on the community initiatives at Kakoijana Reserve Forest for conservation of Golden langur. Finally the programme was concluded by the felicitation of the guest speaker and students.
The second phase of the programme was started on the 6th june 07 with a field trip on Butterfly Watching upto the Indo-Bhutan International Border and after lunch an awareness campaign was done. About 20 members of Forest Protection Force of Biodiversity Conservation Society, Ultapani and Nature’s Foster were participated. The campaign was inducted with an introductory speech of Mr. Rakesh Soud, Astt. General Secretary of Nature’s Foster, on the importance of Tiger conservation. Further the Tiger education packets developed by ZOO were distributed among the participants. Among others, the Executive members of Biodiversity Conservation Society, Ultapani Mr. M.S.Gurung and Mr. K.Narjari was also present in the programme. Finally the programme was concluded by the felicitation of the gust speaker and students.
has been rescued by the local conservation groups New Horizon and Nature's Foster from Koila moila close
to Manas NP, after it strayed into a settlement and local conservation group intervened. The rescue and
subsequent documentation of this species is significance because there was no recent reporting of occurrence
of the species from the Himalayan foothills of western Assam. It was on the morning of August 15 a villager
from Koilamoila captured a large bird,which came close to his residence along with the flock of domestic ducks.
The matter was intimated by him to the member of New Horizon,a conservation group. They pleaded for the bird's safety
and then invited a team from the Natures comprising Veterinarian for identification and rehabilitation of the bird in
its natural habitat.Nature's Foster,the conservation group from Bongaigaon is carrying out a study on the occurrence
of white bellied heron in the Western Assam under the grant from the Birdfair/RSPB Research Fund for endangered Birds
to record the occurrence of the species in the Indo-Bhutan border areas of Manas Biosphere Reserve and other wetlands
of weatern Assam.
A big Burmese python has been rescued from Boitamari,near Bhoirab Proposed Reserve Forest,
just 15 KM away from the Bongaigaon town on ------ by a team of Nature's foster member accompanied
by Dr.Robert Horwich of CC. The snake was 15ft long and identified as a mature male one. A village
conservation committee member (JFM) has reported the occurrence of the snake in the human habitat.
The rescue team rushed to the site after getting the news from the local volunteer and rescued the
endangered species. It is handed over to the forest department for proper treatment and rehabilitation.
Nature's Foster, a leading NGO in the Western Assam of India, has a Division for these type of rescue
and rehabilitation of the wild animals.
As the people were excited to see and hear about Gharial, we took the opportunity to make them aware about Gharial and its behaviour, basically assuring them that the Gharial is not a dangerous animal for them and the belief should be removed from their mind that Gharial eats people. People present in the awareness meetings seems buying our arguments and assured that they will protect the animal from intended killers who are indeed planning somewhere. We also distributed leaflet (information brochure) and a large size poster with messages on harmless Gharial and its importance in the river ecosystems. This awareness campaign is supported by Aarnyak-Rufford,s rapid action fund.. We are still not known how many Gharials are there in the Champabati or Jinjiram River or in the Brahmaputra river system. So, the people and organization involved in the Gharial Conservation Campaign in Assam feels that the approaching winter would be a good opportunity to survey the Gharial in parts of the Brahmaputra River system.
For further information contact The Principal investigator R.Das (dasraju73@gmail.com) or Advisor M Firoz Ahmed (firoz@aaranyak.org)