Road trip to create awareness on endangered species

Five wildlife enthusiasts, in association with Coimbatore-based NGO Environment Conservation Group, embarked on a 25,000-km road trip on Saturday to raise awareness on endangered species of Indian sub-continent under its project named ‘Save Endangered Endemic and Key species (SEEK)’.

The five-member team will cover 29 States and three neighbouring countries namely Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

The trip was flagged off by K. Sankar, Director of Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and National History (SACON), Ashok Kumar, Principal of Central Academy for State Forest Services, and S. Ramasubramanian, Conservator of Forests, Coimbatore Circle, at Forest College campus on Saturday. The team is headed by Mohammed Saleem, president of Environment Conservation Group; Anirudha Mahagaonkar, a research scholar from IIT Guwahati; Srinivasan Gopalakrishnan, an MBA graduate and wildlife enthusiast working in Bangalore; Abhishek Ravi, an engineering graduate with a passion for wildlife photography; Sisir Kalita, doing masters in Tourism Management at Guwahati University, and Rupam Bhaduri, a postgraduate in Energy Science from IIT Guwahati are other team members.

Sponsors

The team will travel in an SUV sponsored by Mahindra and Mahindra. The expedition is sponsored by WULF Pro and WWF India and supported by SACON. Organisers said that SEEK will highlight the plight of the lesser-known endangered, endemic , and key species such as the ‘Great Indian Bustard’ that is less than 200 in the wild. During the drive, SEEK will be visiting major educational institutions.