Soldiers save a red panda from near death

WILD RED PANDA FINDS A SAVIOUR IN JAWANS :

Soldiers patrolling India’s borders are not only protecting their mother land, but also saving endangered wildlife.

On 5th April ’09, a team of soldiers from Sasastra Sema Bal (An army battalion which guards India’s borders with Nepal and China) rescued a female red panda from the jaws of a dog. The dog belonging to a yak owner from across the border in Nepal, had inflicted serious bite wounds on the neck of this red panda. Dogs are used by locals here to protect their yaks from attacks by wild animals while grazing illegally inside the park.

The soldiers after rescuing the highly endangered animal, took her to their camp where they provided her with emergency medical care. Later, personnel of the Forest Department with help of a volunteer from WWF-India transported her to the Darjeeling zoo for further treatment.

WWF-India has been working in these region for the last five years to conserve the small red panda population left there. For the past thirteen years, WWF-India through Project S.E.R.V.E (Save the Environment & Regenerate Vital Employment-Darjeeling), has been working to preserve the environment of Darjeeling Hills, restore critical habitats and create awareness in environmental conservation. Initiatives have also been made to improve livelihood of the local communities.

In November 2008, Project S.E.R.V.E in collaboration with Wildlife Division l, Forest Department, Government of West Bengal organised various camps to sensitise SSB (Sasastra Sema Bal) personnel on wildlife crime control at Singalila National Park, Darjeeling, along the Indo-Nepal border. This was to apprise them of the Wildlife Protection Act and more
importantly to make them aware of their responsibility to control wildlife trade and crime along these border regions. A pocket-sized field guide displaying major species of this Park and some information on Wildlife (Protection) Act of India, 1972 was also provided to them.

WWF has proposed to train soldiers to rescue wild animals here because rescue team could take upto two days to reach the spot as the terrain is hostile, especially in monsoons. Through this training, soldiers could treat the endangered animals in distress and could provide them with immediate medical treatment. WWF will provide requisite medicines to the SSB camps for this purpose.

Every year many red pandas become victims of similar attacks. WWF is in talks with the Forest
Department to remove these illegal dogs because they pose a serious threat to the existence of red pandas and other important species here.

the red pAndA After it WAs rescUed.

Reference: WWF publish JungleExpressApril09

Kolkata Trams

Last week I saw the new look of our very own kolkata tram.From my college days I call trams as "tong tong" because of its bell sound.Often used to had a leisure ride with my friends.By seeing the new look,I got very nostalgic feeling and thought to pen an article on kolkata trams.

Kolkata’s trams, that have been plying in the city for over 130 years and are a unique symbol of the city, ultimately got a makeover.For decades, the trams have fought a bitter turf war with cars and buses in Kolkata, a former British colonial capital and a city of over 15 million people considered an urban nightmare due to its belching public transport and congested roads.The slow-paced but environment-friendly trams, which often fill the air with electric sparks as they trundle down their tracks, have been plying Kolkata since 1873, but over the years they have been adandoned in favour of faster transport, and their tracks have been pulled out to make way for more vehicles.But now, the vintage contraptions are back in after a multi-million, government-funded makeover which began a few years ago. So far, 12 trams have been renovated at a total cost of over 14 million rupees ($290,000), with 12 more slated for renewal.

While the exteriors of the new trams stands completely transformed, the insides have also been changed by the CTC engineers.Ever since the first horse-drawn tram of the city rolled out on metre gauge tracks on Feb 24, 1873, the ‘heritage wheels’ have virtually become a logo of Kolkata - a city of over 15 million people.
CTC was formed in 1880 and registered in London on Dec 22 that year. The company was taken over by the West Bengal government in the 1970s.

New look of our trams :

Traditional look of these old beasts: