Nagbhid, Maharashtra, January 5, 2014: Frontline forest staff of the Nagbhid and Chimur divisions gathered on Friday in the area to kick-start training on wildlife crime prevention, which is being conducted by the International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI), supported by the Maharashtra Forest Department.

The first batch of training, attended by 48 frontline staff of the two ranges, was inaugurated by S L Thawre, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Brahmapuri Forest Division on January 3. The forest staff were also equipped today with kits which included necessary provisions like jackets, torches etc., distributed by the Nagbhid Tehsildar.

A forest guard receiving a kit by the Nagbhid Tehsildar.
Photo: Jeetendra Kumar/IFAW-WTI

The entire training will continue on till January 12, 2014 and will see the participation of a total of 370 frontline forest staff from six different ranges of the area- North Brahmapuri, South Brahmapuri, Chimur, Sindewahi, Nagbhid and Talodhi. “The training itself will be held in Brahmapuri, Nagbhid and Sidewahi. The participants will be taken through an array of topics pertaining to wildlife crime prevention with a special focus on anti-poaching and crime scene investigation,” says Krishnendu Mondal, who is leading the IFAW-WTI, Van Rakshak Project which undertakes these trainings across the country.

R P Mishra, the Regional Head of Central India for WTI, commented on the importance of the entire Brahmapuri division stating, “The area is essentially the Tadoba-Navegaon corridor and acts as an important conduit for the tigers of the area. The division is so large that it houses approximately 30 tigers within the corridor itself.”

Explaining more about the significance of the crime prevention training, Prafulla Bhambhurakar, Manager for WTI’s Central India Tiger Conservation Project said, “Any area with a sizeable number of tigers, which is an umbrella species, becomes a prime target for poaching and other wildlife related crimes. Hence, it is important to equip the frontline forest staff who are the guardians of the wild.”

The training session in progress.
Photo: Jeetendra Kumar/IFAW-WTI

The forest staff will also be taught particulars about wildlife law. “In a lot of cases, we were told by the forest staff that they were either unclear or felt underprepared when it came to handling the legal side of cases. Hence, a special course on wildlife law was felt compulsory when preparing the training modules. The education, training and equipment of the frontline forest staff of India is incomplete without a comprehensive understanding of the laws involved,” added Mondal.

The IFAW-WTI Van Rakshak Project was launched in 2001 with the aim of strengthening the ability of the frontline forest staff of the country through its various Wildlife Crime Prevention Training Progammes. It also runs an insurance scheme which covers 19000 forest staff from all over India, in the case of death or injury on duty. Training, equipping, awareness and morale boosting are the key strategies which are kept in mind while facilitating the capacity building of the forest staff who subsist in harsh field conditions.