Cadets score with wildlife message

KOLKATA: Where the old failed, the young stepped in. With chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s daughter Suchetana by their side, NCC volunteers took to the streets on Sunday to teach the city’s people a thing or two about protecting endangered species. Armed with brochures, the young cadets walked the length of Galiff Street — where bird-sellers assemble on Sundays — from nine in the morning, talking, cajoling, scolding.By late afternoon, when they were through, many were convinced that it was not right to buy endangered birds, and that animals deserved better treatment.
"I did not know even an Indian parrot is getting extinct," said Anup Banerjee, who had come from Salt Lake to buy birds. Now he does. The wildlife wing of the state forest department had just this in mind when it tied up with NCC and made the cadets the department’s representatives. "It was getting quite impossible for our officers alone to keep tabs on what was happening. We had to spread our network and this is the best way to do it," said chief conservator of forests (wildlife) V.K. Yadav.
Forest officials are banking on these cadets passing on information on illegal trade in birds and animals in their localities. "We do not have the money to have informers in every locality," said deputy conservator of forests (wildlife) Rathin Banerjee.
To train the cadets, the wildlife department prepared CDs and sent them to the district headquarters. "They need to know what’s legal and what’s not. For instance, trading in all Indian birds other than the pigeon is prohibited," said Yadav.
What happened in Galiff Street on Sunday morning was just the beginning. Very soon, cadets will take to the streets all over Bengal. To scold and convince.