The Walt Disney Company has announced the award of grants to 43 non-profit organizations working with communities across 25 countries to protect more than 60 animal species this year, as part of its continued efforts to support a healthier planet for people and wildlife. In India, three non-profits – International Rhino Foundation, Panthera and Turtle Survival Alliance – are beneficiaries of the grants being extended.
The International Rhino Foundation, which creates Rhino habitats in India, will use its grant to protect the Indian rhinoceros by addressing threats of habitat loss and poaching by improving the range and effectiveness of anti-poaching patrols and increasing numbers through a conservation breeding and translocation programme.
Panthera’s snow leopard conservation programme will deploy its grant towards educating villagers, children and religious figures about snow leopards and the threats they face in northern India. Building predator-proof corrals to protest livestock, supporting community income diversification and livestock insurance programmes as well as conducting ecological studies to understand the impact of climate change on habitat use of snow leopard prey species.
The Turtle Survival Alliance, through its Indian Turtle Conservation Programme, is focused on ensuring efficient and effective captive breeding of critically endangered black soft-shell turtles in temple bonds in Assam in north-east India, through breeding and expansion of the head-starting facility at Nagsankar Temple in Tezpur. The programme also seeks to engage local fishermen in the conservation programme apart from community education and awareness efforts and establishing a reintroduction protocol to aid in the recovery of the remaining populations of the turtle.
“As stewards of the environment, we have an obligation to future generations to pass on a cleaner and greener planet to them. Protecting our wildlife and nature is at the heart of our various sustainability programmes and it’s heartening to see the dedication of our NGO partners who are so deeply devoted to making a happier and healthier planet possible for all,” said George Cherian, Head – Corporate Communications & Enterprise Social Responsibility, Disney Star.
