Considering the importance of the one health approach in wildlife conservation and management, Society for Wildlife Conservation, Education and Research (Wild-CER) in collaboration with HCLFoundation and Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), organized two capacity building and awareness programs for the frontline staff of the Maharashtra Forest Department, recently.
The awareness programs on ‘Diseases of wildlife and its impact on wildlife with emphasis on rabies and canine distemper were organized on 14th and 15th July at Mohurli and Madnapur auditorium of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, respectively.
On 14th July 2025, around 55 participants from Karwa, Mohurli buffer, Mohurli core, Kolsa and Chandrapur ranges while on 15th July 2025 around 65 participants from Tadoba, Palasgaon, Khadsangi, Shivani, Mul and Kolara ranges of TATR, participated in the capacity building and awareness program.
Objectives of these training programs were to orient the frontline staff about one health, diseases of wildlife, introduction to rabies and canine distemper and management of these diseases in forest areas. This orientation is also part of strengthening response mechanism of forest department to wildlife disease outbreaks and fostering collaboration among stakeholders including animal husbandry department and NGO’s, for better wildlife health management.
Dr. Bahar Baviskar, President and Wildlife veterinarian, Wild-CER guided the participants of the training programs. He shared his experiences of disease outbreaks in several protected areas in India and management strategies implemented for such diseases. He also shared the findings of ongoing project ‘Dog sterilization in and around protected areas around Nagpur’ supported by HCLFoundation in TATR.
The training programs were very insightful for all the participants and gave us a new perspective on the wildlife conservation altogether, shared the participants. Participants also ensured that they will take initiatives at their level to sensitize villagers and other stakeholders about one health, rabies and its effect on the ecosystem.
We are thankful to Field Director Shri. Prabhunath Shukla, Deputy Director Shri. Anand Reddy, ACF Shri. Dhage, RFO Shri. Arun Gond, Shri. Rundan Katkar and Shri. Vinod Jambhule for taking much needed steps to organize this event successfully. We are also grateful to HCLFoundation for their support to this initiative.
