CWRC, Kaziranga National Park, March 3, 2018: In celebration of the UN mandated World Wildlife Day, the team at CWRC – the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation; IFAW-WTI and the Assam Forest Department’s wildlife rescue, treatment and rehabilitation facility near Kaziranga National Park – organised an awareness programme for students of the nearby Panbari Model Village earlier today.

Twenty-two schoolchildren, mostly from the Panbari Scheduled Caste & Tribe Middle English School, attended the interactive programme on ‘Big Cats: Predators under Threat’ – the official World Wildlife Day theme. They shared their perceptions about the big cats found in the Kaziranga landscape that they live in, with a focus on Dhekia Patia and Nahor Futuki, the Assamese names for the Bengal tiger and common leopard respectively. CWRC’s communications manager Subhamoy Bhattacharjee and lead veterinarian Dr Panjit Basumatary discussed various aspects of tiger and leopard conservation – including human-big cat conflict, a pressing issue for communities living cheek-by-jowl with wilderness areas – with the children and encouraged them to take a greater interest in wildlife conservation. A film on tiger conservation was also screened and the students visited CWRC’s leopard enclosure, where four orphaned leopards are under lifetime care.

Dr Santosh Kumar Gupta, veterinarian with CWRC’s satellite Eastern Assam Mobile Veterinary Service unit, and Dilip Deori, Project Head of WTI’s Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong Link Project also participated in the interactive session.