Gudalur Human Chain Rally
Human chain for Establishing Vulture safe zone conducted at Gudalur on 30 Dec'13
Date: December 30, 2013
Venue: Bus Stand, Gudalur, Nilgiri District
Organisers: Arulagam and Tamil Nadu Forest Department
Target group: Veterinarians, Pharmacy owners, Cattle growers and public
Purpose: To spread awareness about endangered vultures and threat to vulture populations because of Diclofenac drug.
Medium: Human chain, Personal interaction and printed materials.
Funding / Collaboration: CEPF
As a part of the diclofenac free campaign, today 30/12/2013, Vulture conservation awareness cum Human chain was organized by Arulagam in Gudalur bus terminal, Udagamandalam. The human chain rally was inaugurated by the people representative Mrs. G. Ramamani, Chairman, Gudalur Municipality. Mr.Tejaswi, IFS, DFO Gudalur, Mrs.Indurani, Chairman, Panchayat Union, Gudalur, Mr. S.K. Lachiyathambiduarai, BDO, Gudalur, Vulture brigade members from Anaikatty & Siriur village and Volunteers from Bharathiar University Arts & Science college also participated. Mr. S. Bharathdasan, Secretary, Arulagam lead the rally and appealed to Veterinarians, Pharmacy owners, Cattle growers, and the public to join hands to establish a vulture safe zone by eliminating Diclofenac for cattle usage.
Dr. S. Srinivasan, Additional Director, Animal Husbandry said that Govt of India banned Diclofenac for cattle usage in 2006 and we use only Meloxicam, an alternate safe drug. He also reiterated that it is illegal and unethical for any vets or pharmacy shops selling and injecting human diclofenac to cattle. Moreover, it's an offense and the Government has the right to withdraw their License and they will get maximum imprisonment.
Mr.Boominathan, Coordinator, WWF-India spoke about the vultures in Moyar Valley and their importance in the landscape. He also insisted carcasses poisoning also could be a reason for vulture declining in the landscape.
Shun diclofenac awareness poster was handed over to Dr.S. Srinivasan, Additional Director, Animal Husbandry Department, Gudalur. Since Gudalur holds multi linguistic people like Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and also indigenous people such as Irulas, Betta krumba and Kattu Naickar the awareness spread in all those languages. Message in English sent by Mr. Chris Bowden, Programme Manager, Saving Asia’s Vulture from Extinction was also read on that occasion. Representative from Kattunaika community Mr. Marigan, Betta gurumba community Mr. Suresh, Irula community Mr. Mari, Baduga community Mr.Sundararajan and Malayali community Mr. Sugumar also took part in this rally.
During this programme slogans were raised for vulture conservation. Awareness posters and banners on diclofenac were displayed. Vulture cap adorned by the participants attracted the viewers. Posters and bit notices on vultures distributed to the public including pharmacy owners. The event was organised by Arulagam team Venkitachalam, Paraman , Murgesan , Vulture brigade members & volunteers.
This programme got wide public attention rather than hall meeting. So, we have planned to repeat this in a small town in coming months.
