◆ An Indian Palm Squirrel eating what? Plastic or toffee?
~Some days back a troop of langurs stole a container full of toffee from a stationary shop in my locality. Then they broke the container and left it on that shop's roof. After a couple of days, I saw an Indian Palm Squirrel entering the damaged container. He then took a toffee out and tried to remove the plastic wrapper with his incisors. However, he couldn't remove it properly and started licking it and then eating it. He didn't even have a clue of what it was.

● Many stray animals end up eating plastic bags and bottles due to improper disposal systems, and this can cause their 
death.
● Every year, about 100 million tons of plastic are produced all over the world. Out of this, 25 million tons of non-degradable plastic gets accumulated in the environment.
● We buy 1 million plastic bottles every minute. 
● To bring a decline in its usage, start using paper or cloth bags for shopping and other purposes as much as possible, 
and avoid bringing plastic bags at home.
● Beat plastic pollution. If you can't reuse it, refuse it.
● Taking small steps can greatly contribute to the reduction of plastic pollution. It is time for us to take some preventive steps, and ensure a better life for the future generations.
● Live and let live.

People are not even maintaining the minimum ethics of wildlife photography.
Either they were never dedicated enough to their passion to learn about ethics or may be they are not wildlife photographers at all.
Having an expensive camera and being in the wild; capturing animals with your fancy lenses doesn't make you an adventurous wildlife photographer.
The respect you bear in your heart for those animals does and it must be reflected in your actions while you are in the wild trying to capture and portray the beauty and elegance of these animals.

Follow the link below to learn about the ethics of wildlife photography.

http://www.conservationindia.org/resources/ethics

Natural habitats of plants and animals are being destroyed and minimized rapidly by anthropogenic activities. Such an instance came to the knowledge of WCM. We recieved reports that nests of some birds were at jeopardy due to illegal shifting and smuggling of sand at Bhairab river bank. We decided to act and look deeper into the matter. A small team travelled to the site at Sarsabad, Islampore Murshidabad.

The nests were on a vertical slope of the river bank , about 8-10 meters away from the waveless river. More than a hundred Bank Mynas (Acridotheres ginginianus), about fifty Jungle Mynas(Acridotheres fuscus) and around some twenty Blue Tailed Bee-Eaters(Merops philippinus) shared the site for nesting. We observed the site maintaing safe distance for hours.

During the observation period, we were surprised to see some children taking out eggs from the nest and playing with them. We promptly intervened and returned the eggs to the nest and also convinced the children not to do so.

No activity of sand smuggling was observed even though marks of such activities were evident. However, as we spoke to the locals, we came to know that the land now belonged to the government though no one spoke of anything regarding sand smuggling.
Later we also discovered a similar nesting site nearby.

The fate of these birds depend on the awareness amongst locals for which we intend to work with enthusiasm .

Some days back we heard some reports of fox (Vulpes bengalensis) sightings in Oil and Seed Research Centre at Berhampore. WCM team particularly became interested in investigating the site due to its uniqueness. The Oil and Seed Research Centre is a sparsely populated area having an extensive bushy farmland in the middle of the town, surrounded on all sides by densely populated human habitation and roads with heavy traffic. Further, the habitat patch is somewhat isolated from other habitat patches suitable for foxes by human settlements. We observed the foxes for a couple of days and also spoke to the locals out there. Our sightings, pugmark analysis and local sources confirmed the presence of 5-6 adults along with 4 pups. We were also successful in locating a den. These foxes have stuck to their crepuscular habit in general, though we spotted some during daytime at an instance.
We also learned about their somewhat altered feeding habit. Apart from feeding on rodents, insects and other small animals, they actively search for food in garbage trashes.
It is a matter of great curiosity and subject to future study to assess the stability, sustainability and future of this population amidst humans and their escalating influences.