The 31st year of the Mysuru zoo youth club activities, meant for children in the age group of 12 and 18 years, was inaugurated here on Sunday, July 23.
The concept of Mysuru zoo youth club had its genesis in the 1980s and 1990s and has emerged as the flagship programme of the institution to foster love for environment, nature and wildlife among the new generation.
The activities for the year 2023 was inaugurated by B. Ramesh, Commissioner of Police, and he urged the children to immerse themselves in the various activities of the youth club and learn from nature. He said species were being driven into extinction and mankind was the root cause of the rapid rate at which floral and faunal species were becoming extinct.
He said that human population explosion was also a factor driving extinction of species as environment was being vandalised in pursuit of meeting basic requirements and demands. Underlining how different species have adapted themselves to changing geographical conditions, Mr. Ramesh said students should take interest in conservation of wildlife. If not, future generation will have to see tigers and elephants only as screen savers or photographs just as one sees dinosaurs.
D. Mahesh Kumar, zoo Director, said the youth club activities has lot of educational element embedded into it apart from a slice of heritage, culture and history as the Mysuru Zoo was established in 1892.
The zoo youth club concept has been emulated by other zoos as well and this is one of its greatest achievements, said Mr. Mahesh Kumar. He pointed out that actor Darshan was one of the youth club members when he was a student and he has continued to display interest in animals and hoped that the present batch of youth club members emulate him.
In an age when youngsters are engrossed in social media, youth club activities will help connect them to nature from which there is a lot to learn, Mr. Kumar added. He also highlighted how different species have adapted to evolve into unique beings and their conservation was the responsibility of all.
In all, the youth club has 60 members drawn from 35 schools and there are 31 boys and 29 girls in the present batch. Senior zoo officials and staff were present.
During the course of the year, the zoo youth club members will take part in various events to be organised by the authorities including listening and interacting with subject experts on issues related to wildlife, environment, importance of conservation, learn about animal behaviour etc.
