Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, 27 February, 2020  : Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) recently conducted a training workshop for frontline forest staff in Sironcha, Gadchiroli. The staff were sensitized and trained with knowledge on wildlife management, principals of biodiversity, camera trapping, sign-surveys, animal tracking, conflict mitigation, human-wildlife co-existence and wildlife behavior.

“Gadchiroli, a tribal-dominated district has huge potential to restore wildlife and tigers, Sironcha forest division is already known for the presence of vultures and pure breed of wild buffaloes” said Mr. Prafulla Bhamburkar, a wildlife veteran and coordinator for WTI’s Vidarbha Tiger Project.

The workshop was attended by 47 staff from Sironcha and 40 from Allapalli from six forest ranges. WTI’s field biologist Nikhil Dandekar conducted indoor as well as field sessions. The two-day training workshop was conducted by WTI in collaboration with Maharashtra Forest Department for the staff in Gadchiroli, concluded with the distribution of technical kits including water-proof jackets, torches and water bottles to the attendees which included officers and guards.

“The workshop gave lessons in importance of biodiversity and forest management, animal behaviour and monitoring, sign surveys and tracking, camera trap monitoring, use of GPS and mobile applications in monitoring,” said Shrikant Pawar, Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF), Gadchiroli.

“The staff learnt basics of human-wildlife conflict and how various types of cases can be handled. Staff was also told about snakes and their identification, and myths related to reptiles. As Gadchiroli is known for snakes, training was given on dos and don’ts about snake bites and safe rescue methods,” said Pawar.
“With wire snares emerging as one of the biggest threats, the staff was told about types of snares and importance of anti-snare walks. The staff was introduced to these topics through a detailed power point session. A field session was also held where the staff was given first-hand experience of GPS, sign surveys and identification and basics of camera trapping,” said Prafulla Bhamburkar.

“Gadchiroli recently experienced tiger movement followed by livestock depredation and also keeping in mind that most of the staff will now be a part of Pranhita sanctuary, understanding the basics of animal signs, tracking and monitoring is absolutely important,” said ACF Suhas Badekar, Sironcha.
Amrut Dagade, RFO, Pranhita concluded that “It proved to be a good platform for frontline staff to discuss their problems in animal tracking and learning camera trapping following the recent movement of tiger in this area,”.