The country celebrated Wildlife Week from October 2 to October 8. This year’s wildlife week’s theme is “Big Cats: Predators under threat”. The campaign week was started with the overall goal of raising awareness to safeguarding the lives of wildlife through critical action. But with the rising threat of global warming and extinction of many endangered species of flora and fauna, it is important to introspect how an urban person can contribute to save the ecology.
Ambika, a student and a bird photography enthusiast is of the opinion that some background research before going to wildlife sanctuaries will go a long way in conserving wildlife. She recalls, “A lot of people don’t know how to act ethically in wildlife landscapes. When I was coming back from Andamans where I did my internship, I saw the airport authority at Port Blair confiscating corals from a couple of tourists. it is a well known fact that extracting corals is illegal. Yet, they wanted to take it back as a souvenir.”
Resonating with a similar idea, A. Shankaran, officer on special duty with Telangana Forest Department (wildlife wing), says, “To take care of ecology, urbaners can take simple steps. For example, adhere to speed limits when driving on highways around jungle areas. So many people hit an animal on highways and then just keep driving instead of stopping and helping these animals.”
