State Forest Training Institute, Walayar, Kerala and WCS-India organised a two-day online training on 17th and 18th November for 49 Beat Forest Officers. The training focussed on capacity building of the trainees to detect, investigate and prosecute wildlife offenders. The training began with the inaugural address by Ms. R. Keerthi, Director, SFTI, Walayar, Kerala.
Day 1: First session was an introduction to wildlife trafficking and context setting by Ms. Aathira Vasudevan, Project Assistant, WCS-India. This was followed by a session on Wildlife (Protection) Act by Mr. Praveen Bhargav.
The next session was on Crime-Scene Investigation. Mr. C. Rajendran, retd. IFS, Senior Advisor, WCS-India walked the participants through the different steps of investigation.
Day 1 ended with Ms. Pradipty Bhardwaj, Legal Trainer, WCS-India session on the documents that must be filed in wildlife offence cases under the WLPA.
Day 2 started with a session on identification of trafficked terrestrial and marine wildlife, and their parts and products by Mr. Anirban Chaudhuri, Training Coordinator, WCS-India and Mr. Karan Deshpande, Deputy Project Manager, WCS-India.
Mr. Anirban Chaudhuri, Training Coordinator, WCS-India explained the rescue and rehabilitation techniques for commonly traded animals.
Throughout the two-day programme, the trainees actively participated in the activity questions after every session. The training received positive feedback from the trainees.
