A slew of events were conducted at Bandipur and Biligiri Ranganthaswamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserves on Saturday to mark International Tiger Day.
At Bandipur, the event stretched for two days and commenced on Friday with contests for schoolchildren from different tribal hamlets. There were essay, painting, drawing, quiz and fancy dress competitions.
About 30 students from JSS Sahana Integrated School for Disabled Children took part in the event in addition to 50 students from Vivekananda Tribal Centre of Learning, 40 students from Government First Grade College in addition to about 50 students from Government High School in Hangala and Morarji Desai Residential School.
Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, of the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru, was the chief guest. He underlined the importance of conservation and environment and creating awareness among children on these issues. He pointed out that there was a link between the Wadiyars and Bandipur and said conservation was the duty of every citizen of the country.
P. Ramesh Kumar, director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, who spoke on conservation issues said that Bandipur was on the forefront in conservation of tigers and had identified itself as a protected area with good number of tigers. He said this was also made possible by the cooperation of the local community on the forest fringes. He said there will be more outreach programmes in the days ahead to create public awareness on the issues related to forest and wildlife conservation.
Prizes were distributed to the winners of various contests and certificates issued to the participants. Senior officials of the Forest Department in Bandipur were present.
Similar events were conducted for schoolchildren at the BRT Tiger Reserve and Deep Contractor, director of the reserve distributed prizes to the winners. This was followed by a safari for the children.
