The Centre for Wildlife Sciences to be inaugurated at Palode, near here, on Thursday is expected to equip the Forest Department with key tools for forensic investigation of wildlife crime and surveillance and prevention of diseases among wild animals.
The centre, to function under the State Institute for Animal Diseases (SIAD), will have state- of- the- art facilities like PCR assay and ELISA for better handling of vetero- legal and forensic cases.
This, according to veterinary and wildlife experts, would provide solid scientific evidence to crack cases related to poaching and bush meat hunting.
Equipped with the latest diagnostic techniques, the facility will function as a State referral centre for effective wildlife health investigations and disease surveillance. It would take up regular health surveillance and monitoring of captive and free ranging wildlife.
The action plan for the CWS envisages a key role for the centre in strengthening bio-security measures to prevent the transmission of diseases from domestic animals to the wildlife.
It stresses the need to generate a database on the incidence and prevalence of wildlife diseases.
Repository
The centre would also have a repository for researchers in wildlife.
Forest Minister K.Raju is scheduled to inaugurate the CWS at a function to be held at Palode on Thursday.
A national seminar on ‘Challenges in wildlife conservation: A conceptual approach’ is being organised in connection with the event.