Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, June 24, 2014: Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) with support from Aircel organised a training workshop on ‘Best Practices in Managing Large Carnivore Conflict’ for the frontline staff of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve within the Forest Complex on June 18. Thirty nine frontline staff including forest guards, forest range officers and wildlife wardens along with the Deputy Director of Dudhwa National Park (DNP) attended the workshop.

Discussions ensued on handling and reducing human-carnivore conflicts. Photo: Nafees/Karan Singh – WTI

Dr Devendra Chauhan, Project Head, WTI shared his thoughts, “WTI has been successfully conducting these workshop for over two years now. Such trainings and workshops are very helpful for the staff of Forest Department as it brushes up their skills with fresh information..”

The main aim of the workshop was to enhance the ability of Forest Departmet (FD) in handling and reducing human-carnivore conflicts by different means like effective chemical immobilisation, cage capturing and improved monitoring skills. All this, with active involvement of community for longevity and sustainability of the work and its impact.

“ As the monsoon is right around the corner, this workshop is a refresher for the frontline staff, as conflicts are maximum during this time of the year. I truly appreciate WTI- team’s efforts for organising this workshop.” said P P Singh, Deputy Director, Dudhwa National Park.

The workshop attended by 39 frontline forest staff also dealt with effective chemical immobilisation
and cage capturing during conflict situations. Photo Nafees/Karan Singh – WTI

Since the commencement of UP Carnivore Conservation project by WTI, the team has carried out several workshops for FDt’s Frontline staff to improve and boost their abilities, and for dynamic involvement of local communities for wildlife conservation. The workshops are not only restricted to Dudhwa Tiger Reserve but expand to other tiger reserves in UP as well.

Sandeep Tiwari, Regional Head, Terai Region, WTI said “ Uttar Pradesh Carnivore Conservation project aided by Aircel and in collaboration with State Forest Department has undertaken various conservation initiatives including awareness campaigns and workshops to sensitize the local community and media on measures to minimize human-carnivore conflict in the region. The current workshop will assist the frontline staff to deal and manage the conflict animals and community more efficiently”.

WTI’s UP carnivore conservation project, aided by Aircel endeavours to bring down the chances of human-carnivore conflicts in Dudhwa Landscape, in collaboration with the State Forest Departmet. The project has carried out many awareness campaigns and workshops to stimulate the community towards importance of forest and wild cats. The team has done numerous carnivore rescues in the region and has sensitisied media especially towards importance of conservation of wildlife in the region.