THE TWO-DAY workshop aimed at chalking out a permanent and uniform policy for health management of wild animals began at Van Vihar National Park here today.
Speaking during the inaugural session, State Forest Department Principal Secretary Avani Vaish expressed happiness that Madhya Pradesh was in the forefront as far as providing health management to wildlife was concerned.
He added the work of protecting wild animals and providing them treatment and necessary medication was not only dangerous but very challenging too.
Animal Husbandry Department Principal Secretary Ranjana Chaudhary described as worth emulating by other states the efforts for wildlife protection being undertaken in Madhya Pradesh.
In this connection the drug diclofane for treatment of animals had been banned in Madhya Pradesh, as it was deadly for vultures that fed on the carcasses of animals that had traces of diclofane in their bodies.
The Principal Secretary emphasised the need of conservation of vultures as they played a crucial role in nature conservation.
State PCCF (wildlife) P B Gangopadhyay said vaccination of all animals present in an area of five kilometers of every national park in the State was being carried out. Forest and animal husbandry departments were conducting the exercise jointly and it was necessary to vaccinate such animals to prevent any kind of infections to wild animals inhabiting the national parks.
Gangopadhyay added 22 forest department personnel from Madhya Pradesh had been sent to Pune to undergo training in view of the impending threat of bird flu virus over the past few months. Further, forest personnel had been included in district level committees created to tackle any bird flu scare in the state.
{{/usCountry}}Gangopadhyay added 22 forest department personnel from Madhya Pradesh had been sent to Pune to undergo training in view of the impending threat of bird flu virus over the past few months. Further, forest personnel had been included in district level committees created to tackle any bird flu scare in the state.
{{/usCountry}}IVRI’s wildlife health expert Dr Swaroop stated the Central Zoo Authority had recognised the IVRI as the central training institute. In that context IVRI was soon going to undertake a survey of all zoos in the country and formulate standards for wildlife protection to improve wildlife health management throughout the country.
Renowned wildlife health specialist Dr L N Acharya Ji also shared his views and vast experience on wildlife health management. Van Vihar Director A K Bhattacharya, forest department officials and wildlife experts from all over the country were also present on the occasion.