Wildlife Week celebrations in Tuticorin

The Wildlife Week celebrations observed by the Department of Forests came to a close in the district with a colourful valedictory ceremony here on Tuesday.

Collector R. Palaniyandi said that mankind should not forget to conserve forest cover and natural resources in the pursuit of modernisation. "Inventions made to improve lifestyle should never come at the cost of nature," he said. Stress should be laid on peaceful co-existence of man, animal and nature.

"Children should take the responsibility to spread the message of conservation of forest and its resources to wider sections of society, as forestry is capable of withstanding the fury of nature, as in the cases of tsunamis and cyclones," he added.

Dr. Palaniyandi gave away prizes to the winners of elocution and painting competitions conducted on `wildlife' for school and college students.

The Superintendent of Police, John Nicholson, and the District Forest Officer, L. Nathan, spoke.