Wilderness Films sponsors workshop on "Dealing with Wildlife Emergencies"

Wilderness Films India sponsored "Dealing with Wildlife Emergencies," a workshop for personnel of the Forest Department of Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand. The training session was organized for Range Forest Officers and District Forest Officers (DFOs) of the district.

The workshop was aimed at standardization of the procedures involved in dealing with wildlife emergencies, to create awareness of wildlife protection in India, and to provide information regarding the handling of wild animals after capture and their reintroduction into the wild.

The workshop was convened on the 21st of March, 2006, at the Eco-tourism Center at Chunakhan (near Ramnagar), in Uttarakhand state.

The following was covered during the Workshop:

Introduction
Wildlife Protection Act (1972)
Conflict situations
Capture and rescue techniques, with inputs on trap cage design
Chemical restraint and remote drug delivery systems
Practical session: using blow-pipes
Transportation, housing and husbandry
Wildlife treatment with case studies
Post-mortem of wild animals
Interactive session

Invited for the workshop were the following five resource persons:

1.  Dr. A.V. Belsare, veterinary doctor
2.  Ashok Captain, herpetologist
3.  Dr. Shomita Mukherjee, wildlife biologist
4.  Janiki Lenin, biologist
5.  Satya Priya Gautam Bhalla, honorary wildlife warden, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand

We presented a blow-pipe to one of the DFOs for tranquilization of wild animals during rescue operations. The trip of the resource persons was sponsored by The Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation, UK. There were over 60 people participating in the workshop.

The workshop was arranged by Satya Priya Gautam Bhalla and WFIL, and was sponsored by Wilderness Films India Ltd.

Wilderness Films India camerapersons recorded the entire workshop proceedings on High Definition video, including detailed procedures and techniques involved in animal rescue, the use of blow-pipes and remote drug delivery systems. The original footage is now available for licensing through Wilderness Films India Ltd.