Selfies to conserve wildlife

Models from the city clicked ‘selfies’ on city’s tallest monuments and other important places with messages on placards to save animals

For decades camera traps have helped record the otherwise unseen population of India’s wildlife. Now, with more than a million pictures in the record, spectacular ‘selfies’ from the reserves were uncovered. Moving ahead, ‘Selfie for Wild & Beautiful’ is a new initiative to protect the magnificent animals facing ever greater threats and challenges. As a part of this, three young Hyderabad-based models Sadhna Singh, Deepa Devendra and Dinesh Sharma went around the city’s tallest monuments and other important places and clicked ‘selfies’ with messages on placards to save the animals.

The chief patron of the idea is Vibhuti Jain of Magnus Life, an NGO. This novel initiative is garnering huge response from people from all walks of life. While interacting with the Hyderabad Hans, Vibhuti said, “After seeing the dire straits of affairs and the exploitation done on animals, I felt we must do something to save these precious life forms. This ‘selfie’ initiative is a first in the catalogue of the month- long activities we have lined up ahead of the World Animal Day, which would fall on October 4.”

“In this edition we would focus on the Rhino Project India,” she added.

The three models, along with their make-up artist Sandy, went to Golconda Fort and several famous buildings of the city to spread the message and click the ‘Selfie for Wild & Beautiful’.

“It was delightful to notice that many people joined in to click selfies with us to promote the initiative,” Vibhuti said.
The events in the month would include exhibiting many artworks in various malls of the city. There would be a ‘flashmob’ hosted by Aaryan Rajput of Twists ‘n’ Turns. Music and choreography for other events would be done by Josef Sunder.

On World Animal Day, the group would host a wildlife photography expo titled ‘Wild and Beautiful’ at Muse Art Gallery in Hotel Marriott. The exhibition would be curated by Kaali Sudheer. Eminent photographers from the city would participate in the photography exhibition. During the expo, a documentary by Ravinalli would be screened. Following which there would be a body painting workshop at the venue. The costumes for models to mark the World Animal Day would be made by designers Tejas and Harish.

“All of these people have volunteered to take part in the events. None of them asked me if we could make any profit. All of them believed in the cause and wanted to extend their support for the initiatives,” Vibhuti concluded.