Workshop on wildlife emergency response held

In a bid to tackle wildlife emergency situations in a more professional manner, wildlife experts have put emphasis on need for capacity building at personal, institutional and community levels.
In a two-day national level workshop that concluded at Uttarakhand Academy of Administration here yesterday, experts recommended that the level of response to wildlife emergencies should be quick and capacity building training at personnel, institutional and community levels is very important to respond to any wildlife related emergencies.
Organised by Bharat Ratna G B Pant High Altitude Zoo here the workshop on "Wildlife Emergency Response: Planning and Strategies" for Indian Forest Service Officers was held considering the rise in the number of human- wildlife conflicts and the urgency widely felt to deal with such wildlife emergency situations in a more professional manner.

According to Dr Parag M Dhakate, one of the organisers of the workshop, its main recommendations were creation of state level wildlife emergency response force, prioritising various wildlife emergencies (natural and man-made), preparation of specific action plan for various wildlife emergencies, creation of master document mentioning various successful case studies related to different wildlife emergencies.
The aim of the workshop were to understand the concept of wildlife emergencies in the field and captivity conditions, to compare and contrast the level of response to these emergencies and to understand the process of planning and strategies to handle such emergencies.
For strengthening wildlife conservation and to help steer the future of wildlife, 18 participants from 15 states, including Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Jharkhand shared their ideas on solutions for wildlife emergencies.