Jaipur, July 29, 2022.
TACO, The Animal Care Organization, a first-of-its-kind
animal welfare project, under the aegis of theAnil Agarwal Foundation, the
philanthropic arm of Vedanta Group, grantedINR 1 crore totheForest Department,
Government of Rajasthan on International Tiger Day.
The grant shall be utilized by the Government to enhance the wildlife
conservation activities at Ranthambore National Park. The grant willaid procurement
of patrolling vehicles for the National Park majorly famous for its Royal
Bengal Tigers. This will strengthen the surveillance and monitoring
infrastructure and would prevent poaching in the forest area. The grant comes as
part ofthe International Tiger Day celebrations to raise awareness about the
conservation of wild cats.
On the occasion, Ms. Priya Agarwal Hebbar, Director, Vedanta
Limited said “As we are nearing 50 years of tiger conservation in India, it’s
time to reflect on what more we can do for our wildcats. Though India is number
one in terms of tiger population, at nearly 3,000, our responsibility is to
protect and provide them a sustainable yet safe environment to flourish. With
TACO, we are committed toprovide world class facilities to improve the future
of animals across the states. In this pursuit, I am pleased to pledge our
support for the Ranthambore National Park”
After the inception of “Project Tiger” by Government of
India, several initiatives to stop poaching, encroachment and ensuring safety
of tigers are being regularly undertaken by the Government of Rajasthan.
Ranthambore National Park, located in SawaiMadhopur District of Rajasthan is
one of the biggest and most popular tiger reserves of the country. The national
park in Rajasthan is primarily known as the home to Royal Bengal Tigers with 70
Tigers. Other than this, the national park also has a rich population of
leopards, sloth bears, several deer species like chital (spotted deer), marsh
crocodile, palm civet, jackal, desert fox etc.
Meanwhile, TACO also held celebrations with school children by
organizing a painting competition at its animal shelter in Faridabad, Haryana,to
increase awareness about the conservation of the majestic wild cat.TACO’s
shelter is a dedicatedcenter to serve injured, malnourished, and sick cattle
with best of medical care and balanced diet for healthy growth.
Under the TACO initiative, Anil Agarwal Foundation plans to
support and strengthen veterinary healthcare services across Delhi-NCR and
Mumbai regions. The project is currently functional in the National Capital
Region (NCR), with an initial corpus of Rs. 100 crores and will be further
expanded across multiple other States in India. The organizationhas a
three-tier structure which will work in tandem to create global standards in animal
welfare.
The proposed multi-specialty veterinary
hospital will focus on advanced animal healthcare, preventive veterinary care,
spay and neuter programme, diagnostics, and mobile emergency care units.The Animal
shelter will focus on rescue, rehabilitation, geriatric and palliative care,
animal housing services, nutrition and well-being, while the Academy will
provide short-term courses for different target groups including veterinarians,
paraprofessionalsand animal lovers.