Shah Rukh to feature in wildlife conservation awareness campaign

Mumbai, July 17 (UNI) Sanskara Development Trust, an NGO, along with the Asian Conservation Awareness Programme (ACAP) and WildAid will launch a national educational awareness campaign on wildlife conservation in which Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan will be seen.

President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam in a message, has said, ''India's wildlife and natural environment is the pride of our great Nation - it sustains our people, enriches our lives and lends benefits to all the peoples of the world. To cherish and protect this magnificent heritage is a privilege and a duty that all the citizens ought to undertake responsibly for the benefit of posterity.'' The campaign is a multi-media education and awareness campaign that aims to protect the future of the world's endangered wildlife by drastically reducing consumer demand for endangered species parts and products.

With the support of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the campaign will be telecast on leading television networks like Doordarshan, National Geographic, Discovery, Animal Planet, CNN IBN, NDTV, India TV, among others. The Airport Authority of India (AAI), Ministry of Civil Aviation, and Parliamentarians in India have also supported the campaign that will start with the broadcast of superstar Shah Rukh Khan's message across all international and domestic airports, a release by ACAP said here today.

Shah Rukh highlights the challenges faced by forest guards in protecting India's wildlife in his message, ''He is our nation's unsung hero - the Indian Forest Guard. He is a real life hero because he does this to save the jungle, and the animals that live there. Day in and day out, he is matching wits and battling powerful enemies - wildlife poachers and timber smugglers, and he is willing to lay down his life for this.'' UNI