India, May 4 -- UK charity the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) recognises Dr Purnima Devi Barman from India with the 2024 Whitley Gold Award for her work to save the Greater Adjutant Stork - known locally as Hargila - whose numbers have quadrupled in Assam to more than 1,800 thanks to a dynamic campaign she masterminded and which she is expanding to include 20,000 women.

Charity Patron, HRH The Princess Royal, presented the Whitley Gold Award - the top prize - on 1 May at the Royal Geographical Society in a ceremony that marks three decades since the very first Whitley Award was presented and 25 years since the Princess' involvement as Patron.

"Hargila were always misunderstood and treated as a bad omen or a disease carrier. If I didn't d...