Dr Ramakanta Panda's 'Last Stand' appeals to save Mumbai's flamingo habitat; You can help

Over the last few months, the world has witnessed what amounts to the complete annihilation of what used to be a vast and teeming ecosystem, as billions of animals and plants were ravaged - burnt to death - in the cataclysmic Australian bushfires. This devastating development came at the end of a year when climate change and its effects came to the fore like few others. Now, at a time when temperatures in Antarctica have hit an all-time high and a vast chunk of the continent's landmass has simply detached, India's most prominent cardiac surgeon has highlighted how wanton destruction of environments by man needs to also be battled closer home.

Dr Ramakanta Panda, Chairman and Head Cardiovascular surgeon at Mumbai's Asian Heart Institute, has shared a beautifully captured image of a baby flamingo and highlighted the travails of the majestic species which routinely travels to these parts, but is now threatened by the shrinking wetlands in the city. He has highlighted not only the specific challenge this flamingo faces, but has also appealed for support against a new and allegedly redundant golf course which is to come up in place of the wetlands that flamingos and a number of other species depend on.

READ: International 'single System Of Laws' Greatest Need To Deal With Environmental Issues: CJI

Petition against golf course

Dr Ramakanta Panda, an avid nature photographer who frequently posts some absolutely stunning pictures of creatures in the wild, has posted a fairly heartbreaking scene - a Juvenile Flamingo with a broken leg. In the post, he makes an appeal, and also asks for support for a Change.org petition against the golf course, which as he puts it, is unneeded and will encroach upon the wetlands, leading to another bird-rich wetland site disappearing. 

READ: India Prepared To Bring Back Cheetah, Protected Areas Restored: Wildlife Experts

Dr Panda has often spoken about his love for photography, most recently on the occasion of World Heart Day in September when he cited it as his escape from his grueling hospital schedule while giving similar examples of what working professionals could do in order to lower the kind of stress that can have an adverse effect on one's cardiovascular health. 

Recently, Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde expressed concern over the extinction of flamingos because of the expansion plans of the Kanjurmarg dumping round in Mumbai. "We are equally concerned about the flamingos. They will disappear from there. Once they go away, they will never return. You have no power over nature", said the Chief Justice. 

READ: PM Modi Emphasizes On Conservation Of Wildlife And Habitat, Says 'It's A Part Of Ethos'

READ: SC Allows Centre To Bring African Cheetah To Suitable Wildlife Habitat In India