Bangalore:
It was the first time that the Jumbo Wildlife Awards were given, and the Taj West End was packed with celebrities. The star-studded audience included New Zealand cricketers Ross Taylor and Scott Styris, team India's Javagal Srinath, VVS Laxman, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble, actors Upendra and Srinath, sports stars Reeth Abraham and Ashwini Nachappa Captain GR Gopinath, pioneer of low-cost airlines, and Biocon group CMD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
But the real star of the evening was Shivappa Thayappa Hosamani, 26. A forester at Anechoukur Wildlife Range, Nagarhole National Park, Hosamani was declared the Foot Soldier of Karnataka, awarded for his work in preventing the smuggling of deer from Nagarhole National Park.
He had also stemmed the illegal sand mining at the Lakshma Tirtha River, booking over 20 cases against smugglers.
Receiving the award, Hosamani said that he had noticed men going to the river in the morning under the pretext of washing clothes. He smelt something fishy, and monitored their activities, to find that they were actually smuggling out sand. He led a team of officials to the men at 3 am one morning.
"I wanted to join the army, but could not. Then I learnt of this department, and decided that it would be good to be part of it. I belong to a financially weak family and it was important to support my family, so I immediately took up this job. I joined as a guard three years ago, later became a forester," said Hosamani.
Among the other award winners on Monday were Basavaraj, 45, a temporary watcher at Bandipur Tiger Reserve (BRT) and R Venkatesh, 43, forester of Adlur range, Chikmagalur.
The exemplary range forest officer award was given to KT Boraiah from Kollegal Wildlife Range, BRT and V Devaraj from Srirangapatna in Mandya.
The Wildlife Leadership Award, which recognises forest officers, NGOs and people who have encouraged conservation, was bagged by KS Lokesh, a field coordinator in Nagarhole National Park. He was awarded for encouraging tribal groups to relocate out of the tiger reserve.
The Exceptional Applied Conservation Scientist Award was bagged by wildlife biologist Ajay Desai for his research on elephants. The outstanding civil servant awards were bagged by noted environmentalist and retired forest department officer SG Neginhal and KH Gopala Krishne Gowda, commissioner of watershed development department, ex-officio secretary to government, agriculture department.
Forest minister CH Vijayashankar said that the state government too has been considering awarding those involved in keeping a guard over the state's plant and animal wealth.
Copyright restricted. Under license from
www.3dsyndication.com