October 10, 2022

By Habeeba Fatima and Chandrasekar Das
Technical Coordinator & Additional Programme Coordinator – Biodiversity

One of our committed donors, Foundation Segré has been supporting our Biodiversity Conservation team in several of its project activities. Segré is based in France and driven by the mission to build partnerships across the world for the protection of biodiversity through various activities, like conservation ecology, restoration of degraded habitats, education and investigation of wildlife crime.

On Human-Wildlife Conflict

As a part of our project Pre-empting Human-wildlife Conflict in Kotagiri, we have been working to mitigate negative human-wildlife interactions in Kotagiri for years, educating the public on behaviour during encounters and steps to reduce them while also recording observations from the community and monitoring wildlife to understand their movement and behaviour. We work closely with the Forest Department to enhance their efforts as well, providing support for wildlife rescues and rehabilitation.

To better equip the Forest Department in the rescue of large mammals, we donated a trap door cage, a bait cage, and a treatment cage to the Kotagiri Forest Range of the Nilgiris Forest Division. A small handing-over function was held at the Keystone Foundation campus on Saturday. Bait cages aid in enticing animals into trap door cages while still protecting the bait animal. Treatment cages are ideal for immobilizing injured animals using a lever, during their treatment. This donation was made possible with the support of Foundation Segré in France through the IUCN Save Our Species programme.

On Building Perspectives in Young Minds

In celebration of Wildlife Week (October 1-7), we organized a drama competition on human-wildlife interactions in their villages, to raise awareness and get children thinking about their relationship with nature in the Nilgiris in a fun, creative way. The event took place at KayPeeYes College of Arts and Science in Kotagiri. Children of ages eight to 16 from Ambedkar Nagar, Indira Nagar, Krishnapudur and Kanniga Devi villages participated. This event was supported by a grant from Segré through IUCN Save Our Species.

During this time, Segré also enabled us to conduct film screenings in Sathyamangalam and Kotagiri in collaboration with All Things Environment Film Festival (ALT EFF), and build discussions on human-wildlife interactions. Two documentaries were screened: Elephants in my Backyard (Bhoomi Award for Best Indian Short) and The Last Hop(e), a documentary on Western Ghats frogs.

On Staying Connected and Informed

On October 8 and 9, along with the People and Nature Collectives team, we installed a community radio media network in Indira Nagar village to connect them to local radio programmes that work to raise awareness, help the community stay connected and engage the public in a space that enables sharing of perspectives, learnings and observations on biodiversity and community well-being.

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Update, Feb 2, 2023:

A fourth specialised cage was handed over to the Forest Department today, and promptly inaugurated at one of Kotagiri’s cherished forests and a Protected Area – Longwood Shola Reserve Forest. These cages will prove paramount in ensuring the facilitation of safe rescue and rehabilitation of wildlife in the Nilgiris.