24th National Wildlife Week Celebration

2076

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Institute of Forestry, Pokhara Campus, Wildlife Week Celebration Committee Pokhara 2076

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Acknowledgement:

We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to everyone who helped us making this event a grand success.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the green groups and Institute of Forestry for their valuable support and cooperation. We are very thankful to Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation – Annapurna Conservation Area (DNPWC-ACA) Liaison Office, National Trust for Nature Conservation- Annapurna Conservation Area Project (NTNC- ACAP), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Nepal- Hariyoban Program, Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN), Third Pole Conservancy, Nepalese Ornithological Union (NOU) , Friends of Nature (FON)- Nepal, Pokhara Bird Society (PBS), Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge- Pokhara, BaBa Foundation, Division Forest Office (DFO) Kaski, Pokhara Metropolitian City, Kaski, Pokhara Metropolitian City- Ward no: 5, Pokhara Metropolitian City- Ward no: 13, Pokhara Metropolitian City- Ward no: 15, Forest and Environment Research Organization (FERO)- Bhaktapur, Free Student Union – Institute of Forestry (FSU- IOF) Pokhara, Dharmasthali Model School- Parsang, and Mr. Hemanta Dhakal for providing us financial support to celebrate the 23rd National Wildlife Week.

We are very much appreciative to Prof. Dr. Krishna Raj Tiwari, Dean- IOF, Mr. Prem Narayan Khanal (Campus Chief, IOF Pokhara), Mr. Rishi Baral (Conservation officer NTNC-ACAP), Mr. Rishi Ram Dhakal (Conservation Officer- ACAP-Liaison Office) and Mr. Dayaram Pandey (Ranger- ACAP-Liaison Office), Mrs. Sudha Dhungana (Ranger-ACAP-Liaison Office), Mr. Shiva Devkota (ACAP- Lwang), Mr. Rajendra Gurung (Bird Conservation Nepal), Mr. Rupendra Ghale and Mr. Surya Adhikari from WWF Hariyoban, Mr Ganga Ram Regmi (Founder and Executive Director at Third Pole Conservancy), Mr. Hathan Chauddhary (Nepalese Ornithological Union), Mr. Raju Acharya (Founder and Executive Director FON- Nepal), Mr. Dilip Shrestha (BaBa Foundation), Mr. Mannshant Ghimire, Mr. Hemanta Dhakal (Pokhara Bird Society), Mr. Bishal Aryal (President- FSU), Gajendra Shrestha (Forest and Environment Research Organization), Mr. Kedarnath Baral (Principal- Dharmasthali Basic School), Mr. Ramji Gautam (Zoological Department- P.N. Campus), Mr. Krishna Mani Baral, Mr. Bhumi Prakash Chaudary Tharu (Trainer), Ms. Shristee Panthi (Trainer) and Mr. Bhuwan Singh Bista (IOF, Pokhara).

Lastly, we are very grateful to Nepal Police for providing us the necessary security during our street performances, the students from Bhurjung Khola and Ghachowk, staffs of IOF, Pokhara and all the volunteer students for their tireless efforts and dedication to make this program a success.

Photo Credits: Aananda Baral, Mukesh Shrestha, Vidyaman Thapa, Ambika Regmi, Pratyush Dhungana, Shirish Dangi, Sangita Gautam.

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Contents:

Acknowledgement:…………………………………………………………………………..3

1. Introduction:……………………………………………………………………………..5 2. Objectives:………………………………………………………………………………..6 3. Wildlife Week Celebration District:……………………………………………………6 4. Event Promotion:………………………………………………………………………..7 5. Activities 5.1 Flash Mob and Rally:……………………………………………………………….8 5.2 Butterfly museum visit, Flash mob ,Drawing and Instant Writing Competition 5.2.1 Butterfly museum visit and Flash Mob:…………………………………..10 5.2.2 Drawing and Instant Writing Competition:………………………………11 5.3 Photography workshop and School Teaching Program 5.3.1 Photography workshop:……………………………………………………12 5.3.2 School teaching program at Bhujrung Khola:……………………………12 5.4 Butterfly Monitoring and Bat cave visit 5.4.1 Butterfly Monitoring:………………………………………………………14 5.4.2 Bat cave visit:………………………………………………………………..14 5.5 Nature Hike and School Visit 5.5.1 Nature Hike:………………………………………………………………...15 5.5.2 School Visit:…………………………………………………………………16 5.6 Sanitation, Dustbin Distribution and School Teaching Program 5.6.1 Sanitation and Dustbin Distribution:……………………………………...16 5.6.2 School teaching at Ghachowk:…………………………………………….17 5.7 Wildlife talks, Prize distribution and Closing ceremony………………………...18 6. Results:…………………………………………………………………………………..19 6.1 Demographic features of the participants:………………………………………..20 7. Internet Links of Wildlife Week- 2076:……………………………………………….21 References:……………………………………………………………………………...21 Photo Plates:…………………………………………………………………………….22

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1. Introduction and Background

Nepal is situated at the heart of the Himalayan belt and at a unique juncture of two of the world‟s most important bio-geographic regions. Altitudinal variation over a short distance ranges from 60 m above sea-level to 8,848 m a top Sagarmatha, the highest point on Earth. This unique setting has bestowed Nepal with rich biodiversity, yet Nepal is also diverse in its ethnicity, culture and religion, giving it one of the most unique social settings in the region (Jnwali et al., 2011). The country is glorified being the home for different spectacular animals such as Rhino, Tiger Elephants, Snow leopards and many other endangered species. It is blessed with an ample richness in ecosystems such as forests, wetlands and grasslands which are recognized as sites of global importance (Bhuju et al, 2007). These ecosystems or habitats support a wide variety of living beings which includes 212 species of mammals (Amin et al, 2018), 888 species of birds (BCN, 2018), 653 species of butterflies, 230 species of fish, 53 species of amphibians, 137 species of reptiles, 6973 species of flowering plants (DNPWC, 2012). These species integrate and interact with their habitat and form a complex amalgamation of biosphere elements. Over the past few years Nepal has experienced enormous challenges in conserving the country‟s biodiversity, from the mountains to the Terai. Globally significant wildlife species such as Bengal tiger, greater one- horned rhinoceros, Asian elephant, gharial, Gangetic river dolphin and giant hornbill in Terai and snow leopard, red panda and musk deer and many others in the mountains are under threat. Past examples after the initiation of Community Forestry in Nepal suggests us that the active participation of the community in conservation activities can significantly facilitate the purpose and can be the best tool to curb the threats that wild animals face (HMGN, 2002).

To ensure the participation of local people in conservation activities, a sense of responsibility and belongingness needs to be put into them through different methods and tools. Similarly, the next generations of conservationists need to know and appreciate the value of wildlife and importance of their conservation. Hence, the green groups of Institute of Forestry, Pokhara have decided to celebrate the National wildlife week which is celebrated every year on the first week of Baisakh nationally. We have designed a series of programs for each day of the week which will act as a catalytic role in convincing people to enrich their understanding of wildlife conservation. This wildlife week celebration package is thus proposed here to mark the national celebration.

Photo: Official Banner Design for 24th Wildlife Week Celebration in Pokhara.

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2. Objectives

The major objective of this week long celebration is to familiarize and sensitize the people and all the stakeholders about the value and importance of wildlife conservation and ensure people‟s participation in future wildlife conservation activities. The specific objectives are as follows:

I. To conduct awareness rally, flash mobs in different parts of Pokhara city. II. To conduct school & community teachings in different places of ACAP region as per feasibility. III. To aware people about the illegal hunting and trade of wildlife. IV. To involve the local communities in environmental conservation activities. V. To create recreational bird, butterfly and bat survey at Dovilla, Bat cave and Institute of Forestry respectively. VI. To sensitize the future aspiring generation of conservationists towards wildlife conservation. VII. To create temporary museum with the art-crafts using recyclable materials.

3. Wildlife Week Celebration District

Photo: Wildlife Week 2076 Celebration Area

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4. Event Promotion

Photos: Online news about wildlife week celebration in Pokhara (Top Left), News about our activities performed on 1st day and future activities (Top right), Facebook group for Wildlife Week 2076 (bottom left), Schedule of Wildlife Week (Bottom right).

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5. Activities jGohGt' ;+/If0fsf] nflu ;xsfo 24th National Wildlife Week-2076 with the theme of “ ” was celebrated from Baisakh 1st to 7th 2076 with joint efforts of Institute of Forestry (IOF)- Pokhara Campus and Green groups of Institute of Forestry (IOF) with many other supportive organizations.

5.1 Flash Mob and Rally The wildlife week was formally inaugurated at the conference hall of Dean office, IOF on the chairmanship of Mr. Milan Baral (Coordinator of Wildlife Week Celebration Committee- 2076) with the chief guest Dr. Jit Narayan Shah (Assistant Dean of IOF) and special guest Mr. Prem Narayan Khanal (Campus chief of IOF, Pokhara) by watering the plant. Similarly, Mr. Rishi Baral (Conservation officer, NTNC-ACAP, HQ), Mrs. Sudha Dhungana (Ranger, ACAP liaison office) and Mr. Arun Parajuli (AFO, Dang) were the guest of the opening ceremony. The program was conducted by Mr. Bibek Belbase and the welcome speech was delivered by Ms. Bijaya Kafle.

The stage was beautifully decorated with the mobile wildlife museum which includes the paintings , stone paintings, arts and crafts related to wildlife, made by giving powers to 3R(reuse, recycle, reduce) along with the wildlife printed t-shirts. Those museum specimens played a crucial role in making the people aware about conservation through art. Another major attraction of 24th national wildlife week was face painting of wildlife.

We completed a rally from Sabhagriha Chowk to Chipledhunga. We also had 3 flash mobs in that day in places namely Sabhagriha Chowk, Chipledhunga, Hallan Chowk. We started the program with flash mob in front of mid-town mall and started our rally from there. Also, dart game was introduced during the program at Sabhagriha where two animals were painted on the darting board and if the dart hit them, the person would be fined and the amount of fine was to be given voluntarily. The rally was completed with another flash mob at Chipledhunga. After that all the participants went to lakeside on the college bus where another flash mob was performed in front of the people. A total of 160 people were present during the rally. Professors from Prithivi Narayan Campus and senior conservation offciers from NTNC-ACAP, ACA liaison office, Division Forest Office- Dang, WWF-Hariyoban program, Forest Action Nepal, Lalitpur were present during the flash mob and Rally. The flash mob and the drama were very successful to capture the attention of local audience in the street. Many people appreciated the flash mob and said that it was very informative.

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Photos: (Top) Students performing flash mob at Hallanchowk. (Bottom), Students carrying the banner during the Conservation Rally.

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5.2 Butterfly museum visit, Flash mob, Drawing and Instant writing competition

5.2.1 Flash mob and Butterfly museum visit On the second day, we performed our flash mob and drama in front of P.N. Campus in the morning. Professors from P.N. Campus and students from different faculty were observing our program. We were able to gather huge mass of people. Similarly, professors and students of P.N. Campus were attracted by our dart game. Also, we visited the butterfly museum of P.N. Campus.

Photo: Student performing flash mob in front of P.N. Campus (Top Left), Professor of P.N. Campus playing dart game (Top Right), Group photo in front of Butterfly Museum (Bottom).

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5.2.2 Drawing and Instant writing competition

In the afternoon, the celebration committee conducted Drawing and Instant writing Competition. The main objectives behind the program were to bring out the creativity of participants, to sensitize participants and creation viewers about the wildlife and their importance. The Drawing competition and Instant writing Competition were conducted with the theme „Illegal hunting and Trade of Wildlife‟. There were altogether 60 participants with 25 in drawing 35 in Instant writing competition. The theme of the program was kept secret until the program started in order to increase the inquisitiveness of the participants. The required materials were all provided by celebration committee. The Instant writing was held for 15 minutes and drawing competition for 1 hour successively.

Photo: Student engaged in instant writing and drawing competition (Top Left and Right respectively), Students posing with their drawing (Bottom).

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5.3 Photography workshop and School teaching program

5.3.1 Photography workshop

The workshop was particularly based about Mobile photography techniques to all students who are interested in Photography. One of our photography passionate senior Bhumi Prakash Chaudhary Tharu (Trainer), had talked them through a presentation about all the important stuffs related to it. Nearly 40 students are enrolled in the particular workshop. From the feedback of many participants, we had rated the workshop as a fruitful.

Photos: Trainer talking about mobile photography (Top). Participated students in the workshop (Middle). Trainer talking about landscape-photography (Bottom)

5.3.2 School teaching at Bhujrung Khola (Machhapuchhre High School) The school is located in ACAP area. We had targeted mainly young school children of that school to ensure the long term conservation outputs. We had divided our groups into two: One for flash mob awareness and another for student teaching as well as documentary show. Flash mob awareness includes wildlife dance and illegal wildlife trade drama around the territory of the school. In the large classroom with almost 60 young students, through powerpoint presentation, we had talked them about Wildlife Conservation & its importance, Illegal

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wildlife trade, Climate change and Environment pollution. To make our teaching sessions more interesting, we had conducted quiz competition within them with sweets distribution for the answered one. Also we had shown them two documentaries related to Endangered Wildlife of Nepal and Illegal Wildlife Trade Punishments by law. At the end of the program, we had distributed writing diary and ball-pen to all the participated students. As a whole, we were so much exited to see the school student's zeal for wildlife. We are sure, they are so much happy for us about our particular program on that day.

Photo: School teaching at Bhujrung Khola to the school students including documentary show.

Photo: Students engaged with wildlife materials (Left), Face painted of the students (Right).

Photo: Wildlife- conservation Drama (Left), Flash Mob (Right).

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5.4 Butterfly Monitoring and Bat cave visit

5.4.1 Butterfly monitoring The program was started under the mentorship of Ms. Shristee Panthee, one of student IOF Pokhara. She has experience in research and training in butterfly. A total of 50 participants were present in this program which was organized inside the IOF premises. This program aimed to develop simple identification techniques to understand the butterflies‟ movement in the field and enhance the work experience with butterflies for students.

Photo: Resource person explaining about butterfly (Left), Group photo after the butterfly monitoring (Right).

5.4.2 Bat cave visit “Instrument demonstration and bat cave visit” was the program in the bat cave organized by Bats Friends Pokhara. There were about 80 participants on the program. For instrument demonstration, acoustic device (Echo meter Touch 2 Pro) was shown with instructions to use the device and a short cave visit was done after the briefing about bats. This program was focused on enhancing the knowledge about conservation of bats and their habitats.

Photo: Briefing about Bats (Left), Coordinator with executive members of Bat Friends Pokhara in front of Bat Cave (Right).

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Photo: Briefing about Acoustic device inside Bat Cave.

5.5 Nature hike and School visit 5.5.1 Nature Hike The program Nature Hike to Dovilla was co-ordinated by BCN, Pokhara Branch. We were specially focused on the birds along with butterflies, trees, and landscapes. We had Mr. Mannshant Ghimire, Mr. Bhumi Prakash Chaudhary Tharu and Ms. Shristee Panthee as a resource person. There were altogether 98 participants so we divided the mass into 5 groups. Same trail to Dovilla was travelled by each group in the interval of 15 minutes. Total 68 species of birds were recorded. Along with this, we had sanitation program where all the individuals were involved. With the silence and ethics of conservationist, we finished the Nature hike program.

Photo: Red-billed Blue Magpie (Left), Resource person Mr. Mannshant Ghimire searching for birds (Right).

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5.5.2 School Visit In the afternoon, we visited Dharmasthali Model School, Parsyang with the motive to aware students about the wildlife and their conservation. We conducted drawing competition (on the topic Wildlife Conservation) among 38 students of that school.

Photo: Students engaged in Drawing (Left), Prize distribution to the winners (Right).

5.6 Sanitation, Dustbin distribution and School teaching

5.6.1 Sanitation and dustbin distribution The program was conducted outside the IOF premises along Tallo NayaGaun Area at the morning time. It was done in collaboration with Shree Annapurana Upabhakta Sahakari Sastha Ltd. With the coordination of Milan Baral and Chief Guest Captain Naresh Thapa we started the sanitation program from the IOF gate to tallo nayagaun area tagging dustbins in appropriate pole in different location within this trail. Together with IOF students and committee people from the locality there were altogether 150 people. This program had it focus on public participation in sanitation program to aware everyone about keeping the area clean and green.

Photo: Students and local people after the sanitation (Left), Dustbin tagging (Right).

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5.6.2 School teaching at Ghachowk

Our program was divided into three sessions. In the first session, we visited Jatayau Vulture Restaurant where 8 species of vulture are found. The resource person available there gave us information about the status of vulture and vulture restaurant. In the second session, we started school teaching at Suklagandaki secondary school where students from different schools were invited. In the large classroom with almost 50 young students, through powerpoint presentation, we had talked them about Wildlife Conservation & its importance, Status and importance of Vulture, Human-wildlife Conflict and Ecotourism in Ghachowk. To make our teaching sessions more interesting, we had conducted quiz competition within them with sweets distribution for the answered one. Also we had shown them two documentaries related to Endangered Wildlife of Nepal and Illegal Wildlife Trade Punishments by law. At the end of the program, we had distributed writing diary and ball-pen to all the participated students. As a whole, we were so much exited to see the school student's zeal for wildlife. In the third session, we performed flash mob and drama where the students from different schools and local people were observing.

Photo: Group photo after the school teaching (Top), Presenting on Importance of Vulture and Ecotourism in Ghachowk (Bottom).

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5.7 Wildlife talk, Prize distribution and Closing ceremony

On the 7th day we had formal closing ceremony and wildlife talk in NTNC-ACAP office. The formal inauguration of the closing ceremony was done by the Chief guest Krishna Raj Tiwari (Dean of IOF, TU), Special guest Prem Narayan Khanal (Campus Chief, IOF,Pokhara), Guests: Hemanta Dhakal ( Secretary,PBS), and coordinator Milan Baral by watering a small plant. During the program, wildlife talk was organized, where Mr. Hemanta Dhakal and Ms. Shristee Panthee presented on „Biodiversity of birds at Pokhara valley‟ and „Lepidoptera‟ respectively. And then, the prizes were distributed to the winners of drawing & instant writing competition. Similarly, the certificate of appreciation was provided to all the working committee members and the participants of the program. The program was formally closed by the coordinator after honoring Token of Love to our guests and supporters.

Photo: Formal inauguration by watering plant (Left), Resource person giving presentation on Biodiversity of birds at Pokhara valley (Right).

Photo: Resource person presenting on Lepidoptera (Left), Coordinator providing Token of Love to Chief Guest (Right).

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Photo: Prize distribution of Instant writing and Drawing competition.

6. Results

The week long wildlife week program secured the participation of a total of 720 people from different institutions. We started the program with few objectives (see No. 2) for which programs were organized accordingly. They are explained as follow:

Objectives Results I. 160 people had participated in the rally with officials from institutions like DNPWC, NTNC-ACAP, DFO-Dang, WWF Nepal, PN campus, Forest Action- Lalitpur, and Institute of Forestry. We were able to gather a huge crowd in all 6 of the flash mobs performed during the week. The face painted with animals attracted the public towards wildlife and their conservation. II. A total of 60 people of Bhurjung Khola area of ACA were taught about the topics mentioned above (see section 5.3.2). Also, 50 students of Ghachowk were taught about the topics mentioned above (see section 5.6.2). The target groups of people were the students of secondary level. III. After every flash mob, there was a drama with the theme of „Illegal hunting and trade of wildlife species‟. The drama disseminates the knowledge about role of the Anti-Poaching Unit, community people and security system towards wildlife conservation. Also, the drawing competition with the theme „Illegal hunting and trade of wildlife‟ aware students of different institutions about the wildlife conservation.

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IV. The sanitation and dustbin distribution program was done in collaboration with Shree Annapurana Upabhakta Sahakari Sastha Ltd. where we shared information about the importance of environment to human and the role of sanitation on the wildlife conservation. A total of 60 community people were present in the program.

V. We completed nature hike at Dovilla side where 98 students (5 groups) did Bird Watching using McKinnon‟s Bird Survey Method. Also, we conducted Butterfly monitoring and Bat cave visit with the presence of 50 and 80 students respectively, where they were trained about the behavior of butterfly and the bats respectively. VI. A set of program were organized with a special focus towards the students of IOF. Drawing and instant writing competitions were organized to enhance their knowledge and creativity towards wildlife conservation. Photography workshop helped them to meet their passion towards wildlife conservation. Wildlife talks helped them to understand about the biodiversity of birds in Pokhara valley and Lepidoptera. VII. The temporary mobile museum created during wildlife week helped to draw attention of professors, conservation officers, students and other general people towards the wildlife conservation.

Table 1: Results that met the Program‟s Objectives.

6.1 Demographic feature of Participants

Sex Ratio of Participants

Female Male

Figure 1: Sex ratio of Participants

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7. Internet Links of Wildlife Week- 2076

7.1 Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gk25xZVdYo&pbjreload=10

7.2 Online News in Nepali: https://www.eadarsha.com/nep/epaper/%E0%A4%9A%E0%A5%88%E0%A4%A4- %E0%A5%A8%E0%A5%AC-%E0%A5%A8%E0%A5%A6%E0%A5%AD%E0%A5%AB http://annapurnapost.com/news/125137

8. References

 Amin, R., H.S.Baral, B.R. Lamichane, L.P. Poudyal, S.Lee, S.R. Jnawali, K.P. Acharya, G.P. Upadhyaya, M.B. Pandey, R. Shrestha, D. Joshi, J. Griffiths, A.P. Khatiwada and N Subedi (2018). The status of Nepal‟s mammals. Journal of Threatened Taxa 10(3): 11361-11378  Bhuju, U.R., Shakya, P.R., Basnet, T.B. and Shrestha, S. 2007. Nepal Biodiversity Resource Book. Kathmandu: ICIMOD and MOEST/GON.  DNPWC (2072). Annual Report 72/73. Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Kathmandu, Nepal.  HMGN/MFSC. 2002. Nepal Biodiversity Strategy. Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, Babarmahal, Kathmandu, Nepal  Jnawali, S.R., Baral, H.S., Lee, S., Acharya, K.P., Upadhyay, G.P., Pandey, M., Shrestha, R., Joshi, D., Laminchhane, B.R., Griiths, J., Khatiwada, A. P., Subedi, N., and Amin, R. (compilers) (2011) The Status of Nepal Mammals: The National Red List Series, Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Kathmandu, Nepal.

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Photo Plates

Day 1:

Day 2:

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Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

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Day 6:

Day 7:

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