Wild, wild Rajkot to hold Wildlife Education Fair on Oct 4 and 5

03-10-2008

Wild, wild Rajkot to hold Wildlife Education Fair on Oct 4 and 5

Indian Express By Parish Joshi

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Wild--wild-Rajkot-to-hold-Wildlife-Education-Fair-on-Oct-4-and-5/368873

 

Rajkot, October 2 For the first time in the state, the Forest Department and the NGOs are planning to organise a Wildlife Education Fair on October 4 and 5 as part of the Wildlife Week Celebrations. The Rajkot based NGO — Wildlife Conservation Trust, the state Forest Department, the municipal corporation-run Rajkot Zoo and the Rajkot Bal Bhavan are jointly celebrating the Wildlife Week from October 2 to 8 in the city.

 

During the weeklong celebration, various educational activities like essay writing competition, elocution and painting, besides a quiz contest will be organised for the students. A wildlife education fair, which is being organised for the first time in the state, will be held at the Shyamaprasad Art Gallery in Racecourse ground on October 4 and 5. WCT president Kishore Kotecha said more than seven stalls will be set-up in the ground outside the Shyamaprasad art gallery during the two-day long fair. "This is first time we are organising such an event. There will be less number of stalls but we are hoping that people of Rajkot will enjoy the novel concept for the fair."

 

He said the WCT stall will educate people about our ongoing campaign of covering open wells in the vicinity of the Gir Sanctuary. "There will be a stall of the Forest Department in which they will display various posters about educating people about wildlife and another stall, which will provide details of medicinal and herbal plants, complete with posters and live specimens. The Forest Department has also decided to distribute free of cost, saplings of some herbal and medicinal plants during the fair," he said.

 

He added: "The most attractive stall in the fair will be of the wildlife photography exhibition by famous wildlife photographer Bhushan Pandya. Rare picture of Asiatic lions and other indigenous species will be displayed during the exhibition. The Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER) Foundation will also display books and other materials regarding wildlife education at their stall here."