Students bat for Turahalli’s animals

By Y Maheswara Reddy

Six children gather over Rs 9,000 in a single day from other folks at Freedom Park

Sheer fear towards thirsty wild animals and birds in Turahalli wooded area made these six students fight the blazing heat to assemble voluntary donations from the public at Freedom Park in Bengaluru.

Dheeraj Naidu, Nabeel Hussain, Sunidhi Sudhir, Gagana DS, Zui and Nidhi Srikanth, who have registered as volunteers for People for Animals, wanted to spend summer season vacations in collaborating quite a lot of activities and programmes organised for the welfare of animals and birds.

“It is summer season. Cheers to mangoes and water melons. But not many of us know of the uglier aspect. Turahalli is a 590-acre wooded area house, 20 km from Bengaluru, off Kanakapura Road. This wooded area house is protected by way of the Karnataka Forest Department. Small water ponds within the wooded area have been drying up. Its inhabitants, like 200 noticed deer, peacocks, and different species of animals, are wandering out of the wooded area on the lookout for water,’’ says Sunidhi Sudhir, a pupil.

The People for Animals in affiliation with different non-governmental organisations (NGOS) has been sending water tankers to fill up the ponds within the wooded area. It needs Rs 1,40,000 for 3 months to fill up the ponds within the wooded area via water tankers.

“So to create awareness and to get other folks to donate for a excellent purpose, crew PFA was in Freedom Park on Mahavir Jayanti. We went there and unfold the message to avoid wasting Turahalli. Many other folks enthusiastically contributed and a couple of most well-liked to transfer the amount on-line. Then we went to Chickpet. After an entire day effort, we accumulated Rs. 9,250. All satisfied smiles,’’ says Sudhir.

Emphasising at the need to donate generously for the welfare of wild animals and birds, Nabeel Hussain, a pupil, said animal welfare, has been overlooked within the nation.

“The intense summer season heat this yr has already led to the demise of a lot of deer, kites, and peacocks due to dehydration. Going to Freedom Park to assemble donations to fill up watering holes in Turahalli Forest was a step in the correct route for us as a town to return in combination and save Bengaluru’s urban flora and fauna,’’ Hussain said.

Gagana DS said the volunteers wanted to replenish water bodies in Turahalli wooded area until the onset of the monsoon. She said the animals living in Turahalli wooded area come outdoor their habitat and enter roads and streets on the lookout for water if replenishing of water bodies is not carried out in summer season.

“Many of them die due to street injuries or are significantly injured. By filling up the ponds within the wooded area, the animals is not going to leave their habitat. With the help of the public finances, the deaths of the flora and fauna can also be decreased,’’ Gagana says.

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Manmade hearth burns 10 acres of Turahalli wooded area

On Wednesday, hearth unfold on 10 acres of the Turahalli wooded area. The hearth is alleged to have been lit by way of unidentified miscreants, who escaped, as many of the wooded area workers had been deployed on election duty. As quickly as the volunteers and wooded area workforce noticed the smoke popping out of the wooded area, they rushed to the spot to peer it spreading. The workers doused the fire the usage of timber, water tanks and different firefighting fabrics. In the method, one of the workforce also sustained minor accidents. A volunteer said, “It’s surprising that miscreants remove darkness from fires understanding the consequences and the way it might also hurt the dwellers here.”

R Gokul, Chief Conservator of Forests, says, “Since many of the officers had been deployed on election duty on Thursday, the miscreants got a chance to get away with lights the fire. We are in search of the culprits and once stuck, we can arrest them. Fortunately there was no major injury and best the grass was burnt within the affected 10 acres of house.”

—Reya Mehrotra