Panvel: Wildlife Week began on Thursday; October 1, with a series of awareness and cleanliness activities centred on the theme “Connecting Habitats and Thriving Wildlife”.

The week-long programme, being observed from October 2 to 8, was jointly inaugurated by SwarnSrishti Habitat Restorer Foundation, Snake Awareness Association, Forest Department, Panvel, and Kharghar-Taloja Colonies Welfare Association. Students from SIES College, association members and citizens participated in the initiative.

A cleanliness drive was held at Owe Hills, Kharghar, on October 2 to mark Gandhi Jayanti and Lal Bahadur Shastri Jayanti. Assistant Conservator of Forests, Panvel, Sagar Mali, and Forest Range Officer Gajanan Panpatte addressed students on wildlife, natural habitats, biodiversity, habitat fragmentation and biodiversity loss.

“Plastic, glass, garbage and other hazardous materials discarded by humans in natural habitats can pose a serious threat to wildlife. These materials can cause severe injuries to animals and can even cause death,” forest officials said. They stressed that protecting wildlife was a collective responsibility.

Jyoti Nadkarni of SwarnSrishti Habitat Restorer Foundation said several more wildlife and nature conservation activities were planned during the week.

“The primary objective is to create awareness among the younger generation about the natural treasure preserved by nature and inspire them to actively protect and conserve it for future generations,” she said.

Nadkarni, wildlife rescuer Raghunath Jadhav and Forest Department personnel conducted a clean-up across five directions and collected more than 20 bags of waste.

Meanwhile, members of the Kharghar-Taloja Colonies Welfare Association held a cleanliness drive in Sector 35 under the theme “One Day, One Hour, Unity for Cleanliness”. The initiative sought to encourage people to connect with and protect natural habitats to support wildlife conservation and biodiversity efforts.