Before Harish became the Nagarapura ward corporator and deputy mayor, he had worked as a wildlife cell volunteer of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for nearly a decade.
Interested in wildlife and want more details on animals? Just call the newly elected deputy mayor S Harish. Surprised? Then, here is the shock: He has caught and rescued more than a 100 venomous snakes and other animals.
Before Harish became the Nagarapura ward corporator and deputy mayor, he had worked as a wildlife cell volunteer of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for nearly a decade.
Even though he is in politics, Harish, a civil engineer, is passionate about wildlife too.
“From childhood, I am interested in wildlife. Whenever I saw people harming snakes which entered residential areas, I, along with my friends, used to shout at them and prevent them from harming them further. Later, I joined the BBMP wildlife cell which trained me in rescuing wild animals,” he said.
Harish, along with other wildlife volunteers, waged a battle against a developer when the latter planned to construct an aquatic centre near Sankey Lake in Malleswaram.
“Had they constructed the centre, we would have lost the habitat of birds and animals which are depended on the lake. To fight against the developer, we had to gather a lot of documents of Mysore Maharaja’s period dating back to 1904-07 to check the ownership of the 1.2-acre land. We also rescued animals from a city college which had illegally kept 45 peacocks, four snakes, tortoises, parrots, bears and other wild animals,” Harish said.
Apart from rescuing wild animals, Harish, along with wildlife volunteers, has participated in awareness campaigns focused on schoolchildren.
Sharath Babu, who is the BBMP wildlife cell chief, explained how Harish joined their team.
“A snake once entered the premises of Deccan International School in Uttarahalli and the management called me to rescue the reptile. Harish was doing some engineering work there. After I caught the snake, Harish came to me and collected all details about the snake and the technique of catching it. I was surprised when he came along with me to the wildlife cell. There he immediately registered himself as a wildlife volunteer,” Sharath said.
Once when a land owner in Rajajinagar illegally chopped a tree, Harish staged a protest march to create awareness of conservation among people and made the land owner plant two saplings on the spot where he had cut the trees,” he said.
Despite his busy schedule as deputy mayor, Harish wants to continue work as a wildlife volunteer and rescue wild animals in trouble.
“For the first time in south India, we are starting an animal hospital in Bangalore and I will make sure that the wildlife cell will be provided with the latest equipment and infrastructure to rescue wildlife in the city,” he said.
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