VMAAF

Third Venu Menon National Animal Awards: 2001

The chief guest for the Venu Menon National Animal Awards 2001 held at the India Habitat Centre on 19 February was Shri R. Venkataraman, Former President of India. Virginia McKenna, internationally acclaimed actress and star of Born Free, delivered the first Venu Menon Memorial Lecture.

The jury comprised Gitanjali Kashyap, fashion designer; Manoj Bajpayee, film and stage actor; Guru Raja Reddy, dancer; Camellia Satija, animal welfare activist and business person; Chinny Krishna, animal welfare activist and engineer; and Vivek Menon, Trustee, VMAAF and Executive Director, Wildlife Trust of India.

Venu Menon Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr V. Krishnamurthy

Dr V. Krishnamurthy worked tirelessly for captive and wild elephant welfare in southern India. A legend in elephant veterinary care, for three decades he used his veterinary skills for the welfare of captive and wild elephants in southern India. Working out of the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, he has played a sterling role in the animal welfare standards set by the Mudumalai Elephant Camp. Several Indian state governments and neighbouring Asian countries have called on him to help in wild elephant tranquilisation and captive elephant care. His work has inspired a whole generation of elephant lovers, conservationists and veterinarians.

Venu Menon Animal Allies Award
Geeta Manja

Geeta Manja has been working for the past twenty years for the welfare of animals in Mysore and neighbouring areas. She has shown immense courage in battling, to prevent animal sacrifices at temples in and around Mysore, and especially those in front of the Chamundi Express during the Ayudh Pooja. As founder-member of People for Animals, Mysore chapter, she has fought to eliminate the use of animals in research and in circuses. Her animal welfare work and her efforts to educate and motivate people to stop animal sacrifice are a source of inspiration for all.

Special Organisation Award
Help in Suffering, Jaipur
Help in Suffering, an animal shelter in Jaipur, has done commendable work in animal rescue and care, with visible results. Various programmes for dogs, monkeys, elephants and equines are being carried out successfully. Worth a special mention are the animal birth control and vaccination programmes that have helped stabilise Jaipur's dog population and reduced the incidence of rabies. Help in Suffering demonstrates to other animal shelters in India that sustained and committed efforts can produce heartening results even in the face of formidable odds.

Jury's Special Award
Keshrimal Jadia

Keshrimal Jadia, a retired peon from Rajgarh, Madhya Pradesh, has dedicated his life to animal welfare, having demonstrated great selflessness in donating a sizeable amount from his Provident Fund to set up a trust for animals. Despite economic constraints and advancing age, he works actively to relieve the suffering of all animals. Always ready to help animals in distress, be it wild or domestic, he has single-handedly rescued many from being slaughtered.

Saharabi Yusuf Sayyad

Saharabi Yusuf Sayyad, a housewife from Karad, epitomizes the true meaning of caring for animals. Despite economic hardships, she rescues, looks after and treats animals, using her own funds and her small home as a shelter. Thinking little of her own creature comforts, she spends almost all the finances she gets from her husband and sons, who are truck drivers, in looking after over 100 animals living with her.

David Shepherd Wildlife Award
Pradeep Kumar Nath
Pradeep Kumar Nath has displayed great tenacity and fearlessness in his fight for animal life on the eastern coasts of Andhra Pradesh. He has fought courageously for the past five years to protect Olive Ridley turtles and their nests by preventing poaching and conserving their habitat on the Andhra Pradesh coast. He has taken his fight even to the government, against the use of turtle nesting beaches for construction purposes. He has also contributed to animal welfare in and around Vishakhapatnam through his campaign to stop animal sacrifices and illegal slaughter. His actions have helped save more than 800 turtle nests and over 80,000 hatchlings.

WTI Van Rakshak Award
Late Mr Narayan Sarmah
Forest range officer Narayan Sarmah is a legend in Assam. He is credited with having single-handedly built the Dibru-Saikhova Wildlife Sanctuary and converted poachers into dedicated believers to the cause of wildlife conservation. He was among those few brave forest officers who fearlessly tackled armed poachers and became an inspiration to his fellow workers. His greatest strength lay in his ability to work with people, whether NGOs or government agencies. Narayan Sarmah was killed by a wild elephant on 2 November, 1998 in Naloni Reserve Forest. His legacy lives on, inspiring forest officers to dedicate themselves to wildlife conservation.

WTI Endangered Species Award
K. N. Changappa

K. N. Changappa, a retired senior tea estate manager, is responsible for saving the endangered Nilgiri Tahr. He has long been associated with wildlife conservation and Eravikulam National Park in Kerala, the only viable habitat of the Nilgiri Tahr in the world, would have been wiped out if it had not been for his unceasing efforts in its creation and subsequent protection. K. N. Changappa is the pioneering spirit behind the revolutionary concept of harnessing corporate support for wildlife, and has today made Eravikulam one of the few wildlife sanctuaries in the world that is protected cooperatively by the Forest Department and an NGO, the High Range Wildlife and Environment Preservation Association.

Jury's Special Certificate
Dr Arun Kumar Jha
Currently a primary school teacher by profession, Dr Arun Kumar Jha lost his job with TISCO when he raised his voice against the illegal killing of stray dogs. He runs an animal welfare organisation with his own money and has initiated legal proceedings against the illegal selling of birds and animal skin in the city of Jamshedpur.

Gaurav Yadav
An officer of the Punjab police by profession, Mr Gaurav Yadav deserves recognition for running an animal ambulance and demonstrating a humane side to the police force. A resident of Jalandhar, he runs a paramedic facility that provides first aid to injured animals.

Manu K.
Kokrebellur village in Southern Karnataka is where Manu started his work of rescuing endangered birds such as spot billed pelicans and storks. What is unique about his work is that local villagers look after the pelican chicks in a nursery until they are fit to be released. Manu has been able to convince local villagers to look after the pelicans as daughters of the village, and made them aware that the bird droppings-- rich in phosphate-- make excellent manure for agricultural fields. Himself a city person, Manu has spent over 10 years working in this village, demonstrating through his work the symbiosis between culture, people and conservation.

Phuleshwar Saikia
A police officer in Assam, Phuleshwar Saikia deserves credit for arresting members of the bureaucracy whose pastime was hunting wild animals in Deopahar Reserve Forest near Golaghat district. In an incident that occurred on 12th February, 2000, senior officers were caught with 5 monkeys (4 rhesus, one Assamese macaque), 2 hill mynas, one pond heron and one stork billed Kingfisher, along with the arms they had used to hunt the animals. Even in the face of considerable pressure from the Nagaland government to release the concerned officers, he stood by the rules and his principles, producing them in court.

Saroj Kumar Mohanty
A veteran forest officer with 26 years of service in the Forest Department, Mr Saroj Kumar Mohanty deserves recognition for his exemplary role in protecting wildlife in Orissa and limiting man-elephant conflict in the area. His ability to develop a local intelligence network has enabled him to check illegal trade in wildlife products. In 1993, posing as a trader, he was able to arrest a poacher with 20 kg of tusks. His sound knowledge of wildlife behaviour has enabled him to guide wild animals, especially elephants that stray into human habitations, back into the forests.

Satish Chandra Upadhyaya
A range officer at the Corbett Tiger Reserve, Satish Chandra Upadhyaya has shown exemplary commitment to wildlife conservation. Despite facing serious pressure and restrictions from the UP government, he has shown great courage in standing up against the irrigation department of the UP government which has occupied Corbett for the last 30 years and has allowed encroachers to occupy land and buildings in the Corbett National Park.

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