Bandipur Tiger Reserve receives the honour from the Indian Book of Records for its wildlife outreach program called the "Bandipur Yuva Mitra"

Bandipur Tiger Reserve received honour from the Indian Book of Records (IBR) for its innovative mass "Wildlife outreach program" called the "Bandipur Yuva Mitra" program.

The flagship mass outreach program called "Bandipur Yuva Mitra (BYM)," set a record for the "Maximum number of People Participated in any "Wildlife Awareness Outreach Program."

Launched on Jan. 3rd, 2023, the BYM program aims to conserve wildlife. Through this program, the forest department is preparing local students and people from adjoining villages as 'Yuva Mitra' or eco-volunteers of Bandipur and educating them about the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and its wildlife. These trained volunteers will further create community awareness, and help develop a cordial wildlife-people relationship. The target is to prepare 15k students and 1000 teachers, in a year.

"Bandipur Yuva Mitra" Program was conceived & organized by Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) under the leadership of Dr. Ramesh Kumar P. IFS, the then CF & FD, Bandipur TR & Current Conservator of Forests (Project Tiger), Mysuru. Dr. Ramesh said, “The program aims to develop a feeling of ‘My Bandipur’ amongst locals, that it is their region and they have to take care of the area.” 

This unique & innovative mass Wildlife outreach Program was conducted from March 3rd, 2023 to March 8th, 2024 and organized for about 162 days (162 BYM  Programs) & covered about 8,410 participants, including 7,019 students, 655 teachers, 197 Gram Panchayat staff, 395 local farmers, and 143 local tribals.

This achievement was recorded, verified & confirmed by the Indian Book of Records (IBR) on March 8, 2024, but the certificates were distributed on May 2nd, 2024 at Bandipur in Karnataka.