Live
- BJP questions Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT) alliance over Aaditya Thackeray's Savarkar-Nehru remark
- Maha Oppn to boycott customary CM tea meet, cites rising farmers' distress, atrocities against Dalits
- Mikheil Kavelashvili is new Georgian President
- He makes things look easy: Smith on 241-run partnership with Head
- Decline in TB cases & deaths in India ‘remarkable’, shows ‘political commitment’, says former WHO Director
- PKL 11: Delhi dedicates win over Haryana to ‘junior express’
- Cyclone kills 14 in French territory Mayotte
- 3rd Test: Head, Smith centuries flatten India on Day 2
- AAP Announces Final Candidate List For 2025 Delhi Assembly Elections, Kejriwal To Contest From New Delhi
- Bangladesh unrest has delayed execution of some vital projects: Tripura CM
Int’l honour for city wildlife conservationist
Wildlife conservationist Imran Siddiqui, who has played a major role in the upgradation of Kawal Sanctuary in Adilabad as a tiger reserve, has been honoured with the prestigious Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Award 2015. The award is being given since 2001. This year, the expert panel included renowed tiger conservationist Valmik Thapar.
Imran, who heads the Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society, has been conferred the Wildlife Conservation Award for making continuous efforts to save the wild cat in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
Wildlife conservationist Imran Siddiqui, who has played a major role in the upgradation of Kawal Sanctuary in Adilabad as a tiger reserve, has been honoured with the prestigious Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Award 2015. The award is being given since 2001. This year, the expert panel included renowed tiger conservationist Valmik Thapar. It is close to 15 years since Imran along with his brother started the Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society and have been working on wildlife conservation in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Imran Siddiqui said, “What makes the award even more meaningful is the jury included the ‘Tiger man of India’-a person who has given his life for tiger conservation. This award spurs me on to further the cause not only in Telangana but in neighbouring states as well.” Imran has been working with the forest departments across the country facilitating conservation efforts. He played a significant role in lobbying with the State for the expansion of Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) from 3,600 sq km to 6,000 sq km.
.jpg)
With the creation of Telangana, part of NSTR is now with the Amrabad Tiger Reserve. Working as an ‘external expert’ for tiger monitoring in AP and Telangana, Imran helps in design and implementation of advanced tiger monitoring protocols in both the states. With a passion for wildlife since his childhood, Imran began visiting forests around Hyderabad in his early teens.
“In 2001, when P Raghuveer, the then CCF of Warangal opened up volunteering opportunity, I teamed up with my brother Asif to pursue our interest and participated in a number of wildlife awareness activities,” recalls Imran. After working extensively in the central Indian tiger conservation landscape for almost a decade, Imran soon found the need for a rigorous training rooted in science to pursue the career of a conservation biologist.
.jpg)
He was subsequently selected for the WCS-NCBS Masters Programme in Wildlife Biology and Conservation. After obtaining the degree in 2010, he explored collaborating with different NGOs before joining the WCS India Programme to lead tiger conservation efforts in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. With his core skills in field surveys and GIS tools, Imran sees the imperative need to build local capacity of the frontline forest department staff and other civil society stakeholders to carry out effective conservation. He has trained over 700 frontline staff in ecological monitoring and gives guest lectures to various other agencies.
