KOCHI: With the intention to create awareness about the flora and fauna, Sahyadri Natural History Society (SNHS), an NGO in the city observed Wildlife Week, marking the end of the week with various environment-related programmes.
The celebration, which was held at Adiyodi hall, kick-started with the state-level wildlife photography contest followed by wildlife photo exhibition, district level wildlife quiz for upper primary and high school students of the city, book exhibition on the environment. Two books - ‘Paschimaghattathile Jeevajathikal’ (Endemics of Western Ghats) and ‘Paristhithiyum Jeevajalangalum’ (Environment and Living Things Quiz) - co-authored by T R Jayakumari and R Vinodkumar were released in the function by author Ezhumattoor Rajarajavarma.
“We conduct these competitions every year. For the contest, we had invited entries and those ones were displayed on Sunday. Some of them were exceptionally good and all the students were given prizes for their participation,” said T R Jayakumari, president of Sahyadri Natural History Society.
The function was chaired by T R Jayakumari, R Vinod Kumar and Padmakaran Pillai who also spoke on the occasion. The programme was inaugurated by Magician Gopinath Muthukad. During his inaugural address, he said, “Nature has lost patience on man’s misdeeds against it. It overlooked people for a while and its fury came out as the deluge in August 2018. It was good as it made people be humane for at least a few days.” The first prize in the wildlife photography contest was bagged by Sagu Rafeeq from around 60 photographs received.
The second prize was shared by Aparna Purushothaman and Shiny Jose. P J Stibin and Aparna Purushothaman shared the third prize. The Wildlife Photography Awards consisting of prize money, memento and certificate were distributed by Muthukad. Author Ezhumattoor Rajarajavarma also distributed the Paristhithi Sahitya awards to Suresh Mannarassala and Krishnakumari.
In the quiz programme, 26 teams of students of upper primary and 29 teams of students of higher secondary participated. Sahyadri joint secretary V Venugopal was the quiz master. All the participants were given certificates and environment-related books were given as gifts.