Forest department’s movie show to create awareness among kids
BAHRAICH: Bahraich forest division in association with Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) has taken an initiative to curb hunting of endangered aquatic animals in the district.
To spread awareness among children, especially those not able to attend school, the forest department arranged a free movie at the river conservation centre near Ghaghraghat on Sunday.
The three hour show, included different short movies based on importance of aquatic animals like Gangetic dolphins, ghariyal and turtles. “Children enjoyed the short movies. The motive was to make children sensitive about the importance of aquatic animals in water ecosystem,” said DFO Bahraich Manish Singh.
He said several freshwater turtles and fishes were very important to keep ecosystem of water healthy as they consume dead matter and algae in rivers.
“Often turtles and dolphins get caught in the net of fishermen. Several species of turtles like Batagur, Chitra Indica and Manouria are on the verge of extinction. High demand of several species of turtles in the international market is also a matter of concern for conservation of aquatic animals as well as for balancing of water ecosystem,” he said.
“Most of the children going to school have some knowledge about the importance of aquatic animals as environmental studies have been introduced now at primary level in most of the schools. So we focused on creating awareness among children who didn’t go to schools,” Manish said. “The children have been instructed to request their parents to save turtles, dolphins and other endangered species of aquatic animals,” he added.