Forest department to start wildlife awareness drive

26/02/2018
Forest department to start wildlife awareness drive
THE TIMES OF INDIA
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/forest-dept-to-start-wildlife-awareness-drive/articleshow/63071887.cms

Forest department will be launching the biggest ever wildlife awareness campaign in Sasan on March 3 the World Wildlife Day. The theme for this year decided by United Nations is 'Big cats: Predators under threat.' As part of the awareness campaign, the forest department will organize essay and painting competitions for children on wildlife conservation subjects.

They are expecting participation of nearly 4 lakh students, which the department claims will be biggest ever.

Children of schools across five districts of Greater Gir landscape — Junagadh, Gir-Somnath, Amreli, Bhavnagar and Botad — will participate in the event.

Primary school children will take part in painting competition while higher secondary school kids will participate in essay competition. Ram Ratan Nala, superintendent of Sasan, said, "We want children to write and draw on the theme of wildlife conservation. We want them to express their imagination as the activity is more of an awareness programme then competition."

As Gir forest holds one of the highest densities of big cats — lions and leopards — in a single, compact patch of any landscape, it would be a meaningful to raise awareness about conservation of these animals as well as ecosystem, said the forest department in an official release.