The Gonds, like all aboriginal people, are animistic, for whom nature, from where they derive all their sustenance, is everything, hence a power to pray to and also appease.

Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) is situated in the Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh. In around 1993-1994, the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, after a thorough study found this forest to be a suitable habitat for the relocation of the Asiatic lion, now confined to the range of about 1800 sq kms of the Gir forest, its only current habitat in the world.

If India as a country stands accused of failure to protect the national animal, the state of Uttar Pradesh is now on the verge of being indicted in the same manner for threatening the very existence of the state bird, the Sarus Crane, in the districts of Etawah and Mainpuri where it has been apparently flourishing. The U.P. Govt formed a Sarus Protection Society and earmarked Rs. 10 crores for the purpose, but it is lying in cold storage. (May 2008)

A beautiful, dense Sal forest, invitingly snuggled in north-east Uttar Pradesh bordering with Nepal, Dudhwa National Park is surely a sight for sore eyes, yet, like, most Protected Areas today, there's more to it than meets the eye. Amidst all its glory, it has its share of rather inglorious problems.

In order to savour our natural heritage, it is high time to save it, but it is not for the Forest Departments of the states who are the custodians alone to handle this delicate business, especially due to the red tape and other pressures inherent in the govt set up and system of working where their hands are tied.