Help us keep wildlife forever wild

Greetings from Wildlife Trust of India!

We hope this email finds you in good health and high spirits.

With this email, we share with you the updates on our project ‘Help us keep wildlife forever wild”. We would also like to express our heartfelt appreciation for your generous donation to the project. Your support means the world to us and will make a significant impact in our efforts to protect wildlife and its habitat across India.

Your support for us goes beyond the financial contribution – it is a powerful statement of your trust in the work we do and a testament to your compassion and dedication to making a difference in wildlife conservation. Thank you for understanding the importance of WTI's work so we can continue to make a positive impact

The updates from the project are as follows –

Visakhapatnam – a city nestled in the Eastern Ghats – has many aquatic ecosystems in Northern Andhra Pradesh, as well as the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in Kambalakonda Reserve Forest. The Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary is an evergreen forest mixed with scrub and meadows; boasting a wonderful diversity of flora and fauna around the city. Visakhapatnam is surrounded by hills and water bodies such as mangrove patches in regions close to the airport. Urban wildlife conflict is common in the areas near the waterbodies and the wildlife sanctuary. Most common cases of conflict are recorded with wild animals such as snakes, owls, black kites, and spotted deer that frequently venture into residential areas.

Due to the residences/settlements in the city being in close proximity to wildlife habitat – which is the wildlife sanctuary, mangroves, and other water bodies – encounters with different kinds of snakes and birds such as the Indian Rock Python, Cobra, Ratsnake, owls, and black kites are common. Many instances require immediate intervention where the animals must be rescued and released back into their habitat to ensure the safety of both humans and wildlife.

The Andhra Pradesh Forest Department as well as a local rescue organization (WCTRE -Wildlife Conservation Through Rescue and Research) have been actively conducting rescues when such urban wildlife conflict occurs. Recently an Indian Rock Python was found in a residential area close to the wildlife sanctuary at night; and was rescued and released back into the wildlife sanctuary. WCTRE has rescued around 150 snakes, 100 birds, and also a few mammal species over the past seven years in collaboration with the forest department. The rescues included Indian Rock Eagle, Barn Owl, Black Kites, deer, pangolin, Russel’s viper, Indian Cobra, and Rat Snake among others.

The local organization had approached WTI for rescue equipment support including snake rescue equipment such as snake hooks and snake bags, bird carriers, and headlamps to assist in animal rescues. The equipment support allowed them to continue their fantastic work of rescuing displaced animals in need.

All this could have been possible through your generous support to our project for which we thank you so much. We will be back with more updates from the project. Until then, take care!

Wishing you continued success and happiness!

Warm regards,

Team WTI

Greeting to you from Wildlife Trust of India,

Hope you are doing well!

This email comprises an update for our project ‘Help Us Keep Wildlife Forever Wild’. Along the updates, we send to you our heartfelt gratitude for your generosity and for your trust in the work we do to protect our country’s wild animal population. It is through such acts of kindness that we are able to implement our conservation initiatives and work towards our vision of a secure natural heritage of India.

To protect wildlife in its natural habitat, it is important to individually address the myriad of threats affecting wild populations. Hunting is one such threat which needs to be countered.

The Andaman Islands host 16 Important Bird Area (IBA) sites as identified by the esteemed Bombay Natural History Society’s (BNHS) environmental information system.

The island is home to 19 endemic bird species. While illegal hunting of the threatened endemic species such as the Andaman wood pigeon and Andaman green pigeon for meat, and Andaman serpent eagle and crested hawk eagle in retaliation to poultry predation has been reported in the islands, no specific study has been carried out to understand the actual extent of hunting.
 
A local conservationist AP Singh (name changed to protect identity), observed prevalent use of airguns for hunting birds in South Andaman. At the start of the year, he found bodies of red collared dove, emerald dove, vernal hanging parrot juveniles, Asian fairy bluebird, Malayan night heron with bullet wounds. Singh also raised that pigeons were being hunted and sold for as low as $3.
 
WTI, through a Rapid Action Project, supported Singh to gather extensive data and understand the current hunting scenario as well as past hunting trends in selected areas of South Andaman islands. Nearly 20 local residents, birding enthusiasts and forest department officials were engaged for the exercise.

Data collected revealed that air guns were sold in five markets of South Andaman and also online. In addition, 6 hunting hotspots were identified. May-July, which are the monsoon months, saw the highest hunting activity. It was also found that hunters mostly target fruiting trees for obvious reasons. The birds frequented fruit-bearing trees and became easy targets.

Based on the results of the survey, necessary interventions are being planned for implementation to mitigate the commercial hunting menace.

A workshop was organised in March for Indian Reserve Battalion officials and their families educating them on the issue of hunting and the importance of protecting endemic birds. More meetings with forest officials and sensitization events for the local community are in the pipeline.

While we are hopeful that these efforts will eventually curb hunting in the South Andaman Islands, we thank you once again for funding the initiative.

Warm Regards,

Team WTI