Lessons from encounters in the wild

While we have been celebrating ‘wildlife week’ across India, beginning from October 2, disturbing news has come from African countries such as Namibia and Zimbabwe. Apparently, orders have been issued to cull elephants for providing food to hungry citizens. Many of these countries have been reeling under severe drought conditions, and coupled with supply chain disruptions due to the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, governments have been facing the daunting task of addressing the hunger of the countrymen.

Drought is linked to global warming and the developed countries responsible for this have not paid adaptation funds of $100 million annually, or the loss and damage funds agreed to in annual climate conferences. No one can do any conservation with a hungry stomach.

The biggest impediment to conservation is the conflict between humans and wild animals. With the fragmentation and degradation of wildlife habitats and forests, wild animals stray into human areas and damage crops, properties and also inflict human and livestock casualties. Though human casualties are inflicted by tigers, leopards, wolves, wild buffaloes, etc, the largest number of deaths take place in elephant attacks. Whenever a child is lifted by a wolf and an adult is killed by large carnivores or an elephant, the affected community members turn against the Forest Department. They protest and create a law and order situation. If it is not handled effectively, often members of the community turn against the conservation programmes and all efforts go in vain. Recent incidents of wolves’ attacks in UP’s Bahraich is one such example.

In the case of Bahraich, the habitat for wolves, which historically lies between Katarnia Ghat forests and Ghaghara river, has been shrinking owing to frequent changes in the course of the river. According to experts, the wolves there have cross-bred with stray dogs and the offsprings are no longer fearful of moving into human areas in search of food. The UP Forest Department has already taken five out of the six wolves into captivity. Under pressure from the community, it had no option but to capture and shift wild wolves to a zoo/safari.

The reasons for tigers and leopards attacking and killing humans in the Terai belt of UP and Uttarakhand are similar. The habitats have been fragmented due to human encroachments, rivers changing course and diversion of forests for infrastructure and developmental projects. There have been several incidents of communities targeting wild animals. Apart from being poached and hunted, the animals straying into human areas are killed by the villagers.

Tigers living on the periphery of forests at times attack livestock for food. They drag the kill several hundred metres to hide it under tree groves and bushes and feed on it.

Tigers are known to eat twice a week; the half-eaten carcass of the kill is often revisited. Villagers exploit this weakness of tigers and spray poison on this. The tiger gets killed whenever it revisits.

Unless there is an accidental encounter, wild animals maintain a safe distance from humans and would never attack. Only when the distance is breached do the animals attack in self-defence. While perambulating forests infested by elephants, forest officers take a lot of precautions. There have been several instances when officers on duty got killed in elephant attacks. A clear distance of 200 metres is to be maintained between the elephant and the human while moving in the forests. When the direction of the wind is from the elephant towards the human, one can afford to go a bit closer. But when the direction of the wind is towards the elephant, a safe distance of 200 metres must be kept. When we move in forests, we make sure that the colour of the vehicle is not white, nor do we wear any white-coloured clothes.

In December 1977, NR Nair, the then Director, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, lost his life when he went too close to photograph an elephant in Karnataka’s Bandipur forests. He was attacked and killed on the spot. In 1989, while working as the Deputy Conservator of Forests at Kollegal in Karnataka, I was going with my wife and kids in a Mahindra jeep on a hilly narrow road in an elephant area and was charged by an elephant from the front. We were lucky that the elephant did not touch us and turned away. If it had pushed the jeep, five of us, including the driver, would have disappeared from earth.

Elephants feed on small-sized trees, which have lower carbon absorption capacity. This removes the competition. Big trees with a higher carbon absorption grow luxuriantly. The presence of elephants increases the carbon sequestration potential of the forests and makes the ecosystem more climate resilient.

— The writer is former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Karnataka