Question

Explain the functions of the following person.

Bhau Katdare

Answer 1

Bhau Katdare and his associates work for the conservation of nature through an institute, called ‘Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra’. In 1999, Bhau Katdare read about the ‘White-breasted Sea Eagle’ as an endangered species. He began his work in the Ratnagiri district, to save and conserve this bird. He created public awareness about this bird, by trekking the sea coast of the district. In this, he found out 62 nesting sites of the bird. While doing this, he and his associates detected some instances of smuggling of the nests of birds known as ‘Indian Swiftlets’ (Pakoli) at Bandra island, which is located near Vengurla Rocks, in the vicinity of the Nivati port in Sindhudurg district.

The nests were smuggled out and sold in foreign countries. There was a need to save these birds and their nests. ‘Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra’ worked in that direction. As a result, Indian Swiftlets were included in Schedule ‘I’ (a list of wildlife, offence against which is punishable) of the ‘Wildlife Protection Act 1972’. This is a remarkable contribution of ‘Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra’.

‘Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra’ also worked for the protection of Olive Ridley turtles. The females of this species come to Velas beach (Ratnagiri district) for nesting. Bhau Katdare and his associates planned an operation for the protection of these nests. In the first year, they were successful in protecting 50 nests. 2734 baby turtles from those 50 nests, were successfully released back into the sea. This proved to be a start of an annual event, ‘Turtle Festival’.

Hundreds of tourists come every year to watch the occasion of baby turtles returning to sea. To accommodate them facilities for ‘Home Stay’ were developed. The peasants were trained for the management of ‘Home Stay’. Thus, efforts for the conservation of nature resulted into the development of tourism as well. The news of this development was well appreciated in Maharashtra. Now, Bhau Katdare and his associates are working for the protection of the endangered ‘Pangolin’ (ant eater/Khavalya Manjar).