The year 2012 was a mixed bag in terms of conservation. While the official toll of tiger deaths has risen to 83, the IUCN has taken out Asiatic lions from the critically endangered category because of their stable population in the jungles of Sasan Gir, writes Atula Gupta.

Henry Thoreau, a 19th-century writer had once remarked, “What is the use of a house if you do not have a tolerable planet to put it on?” The year that’s about to end brought with itself many instances where man tested the tolerance of the earth repeatedly. But what also became a general understanding is the centuries-old wisdom that shrinking natural capital is never the sign of a country’s growth.

The year, therefore, was a year of amends. Better use of technology for conservation, courts and regulators stepping in to protect national symbols like tiger,  tightening of leash on the mining mafia and  commoners rising above the daily grind to shoulder the ecological responsibility, the positives were plenty and visible. Sadly, like a persistent scar, the year also marked the rise of wildlife crime. It is today the third largest criminal industry in the world and can no more be sidelined as a mere environmental issue.   
 
Nation’s pride

The biggest victory for India’s environmentalists in 2012 was the declaration of the Western Ghats as a World Heritage Site. The 1,600-km stretch is even older than the Himalayan ranges and a biodiversity hotspot. 30 per cent of plants found in the Western Ghats, along with 35 percent bird species, 20 per cent mammals, 60 percent reptile species and 70 per cent of amphibians are endemic to the area.

Although tea-coffee plantations, hydel projects, mining, and clever human encroachments have already gnawed into the Ghats, the global recognition hopefully will prevent permanent man-made damage.

Even as the Western Ghats got elevated to a must-visit destination in the tourist itinerary, India’s oldest eco-tourism ambassador namely the tiger was suddenly out of the travel circuit.

The Supreme Court banned tourism in the core areas of tiger reserves in July this year on a public interest petition that pleaded that critical tiger habitats should be kept inviolate of all types of human disturbances, including tourism.
Amidst much debate and after rushed eco-tourism guidelines presented by the centre, the ban was lifted in October. Thanks to the revamped guidelines, the tigers now have slightly more control on their marked territories though they still roam unshielded from poachers’ bullets.

Even before the year’s end, the official toll of tiger deaths has risen to 83 including 54 because of poaching and retaliatory killings. Comparatively, in 2011 total tiger deaths were 61. To protect the 300 odd tigers roaming in their states, Karnataka and its neighbour Tamil Nadu ,formed the Tiger Protection Force, a group of armed commandos especially trained to protect the mega predator. The National Tiger Conservation Authority has also earmarked 500 million rupees to form similar squads in 13 other tiger reserves of the country.

Critical concern

The news of another jungle royalty this year was assuring. The IUCN this year removed the Asiatic Lions from critically endangered list owing to its stable population in the jungles of Sasan Gir.

At the same time 132 other Indian plants and animals were declared critically endangered. Fortunately, thanks to ban on killer drugs, the three vulture species of India, also on the verge of extinction, showed signs of recovery.

Ironically, in spite of its god-gifted armour, one animal that withstood the maximum pain in 2012 was the Indian rhinoceros. As incessant rains converted the lush green valleys of Assam into watery graveyard the rhino trying to flee from the floods, became an easy target of poachers.

Some were brutally shot, some left to die with their horns removed. As per WWF, wildlife trade is today worth $ 19 billion. It is an organised crime with least bit of risk and maximum profit. The organisation found that rhino horns were sold at 30,000 USD per pound in the illegal markets. The lax implementation of wildlife laws in India only encouraged insurrectionists, separatists and extremists to access vast fortunes from unprotected forests.

In the global environment scenario, India pushed Russia into fourth place and is now the world’s third biggest emitter of CO2, after China and the US. But while economists still fail to measure the value of our natural assets and their role in securing the future of a country, individuals and communities chose to preserve these real treasures.

Social responsibility

Villagers in Karnataka recently came to the rescue of a tigresss caught in a barbed wire fence. Temples of Orissa decided to breed rare turtles in their ponds, just to give them a lease of life. An illiterate from Assam single-handedly converted a dry land to a verdant forest.

Researchers in Western Ghats set out to learn how frogs could aid them in understanding climate change. Camera traps, GPS systems, conservation drones made it possible to remotely access the well being of wildlife.

The year 2012 is different in the way people perceived the role of nature and environment in their lives. Some acts were driven by greed, others by need and still others with the sole intention of returning to the state of harmonious existence. At the end of one solar calendar and the beginning of another, let us hope the eco-consciousness quotient continues to rise.

Original Publication: Deccan Herald

Date: 25 December, 2012

Link: Some Scar and a lot of balm

Featured Image by Peter H from Pixabay

Atula Gupta finds out that the number of vultures which had drastically fallen around 2006, owing to the use of the drug, Diclofenac, has stabilised in the recent past. A recent study shows that for all three critically endangered species of vultures in India and Nepal, populations have remained stable in the last few years, thanks to a ban on the killer drug.

Back in the Eighties, vultures were not an unfamiliar sight in India. These scavengers could be seen in hundreds, huddled around a carcass devouring the meal nature provided for them to feed on. But times changed and vulture numbers began to fall at an alarming pace.
The culprit was a pain-killer called Diclofenac, used to treat cattle. The drug was turning meals to poison for the birds when they ate the adulterated carcass.In 2006, the use of Diclofenac was banned and it is after six years that conservationists have encouraging news to share with the world. 
he vultures are still a vulnerable lot, but at least the last few have been spared.Of the several species of vultures found in the world, India is home to three species namely the white-rumped vulture, long-billed vulture and slender-billed vulture. Shockingly, since the ‘90s, the population of all these three species began to show a downward trend with almost 99 per cent of the birds perishing in the entire subcontinent. It was the steepest decline in population any bird species in India and the world has seen.

Killer drug

Despite the halt in use of the drug in 2006, trends showed a fall in vulture numbers. Until recently, questions loomed if the drug was seriously jeopardising vultures’ lives or whether the sudden drop in species numbers was due to something else. There was no way to tell if the ban was really effective.

Finally, in a new study in the science journal, PLoS ONE, researchers reported recently the results of long-term monitoring of vulture numbers from surveys across India and Nepal.  It shows that for both nations and for all three critically endangered species, populations have remained stable in the last few years. Prior to the ban of the killer drug, vulture population was dropping at a rate of up to 40 per cent a year and thus, the ban did prove to be a boon for the areal scavengers.|

In 2007, the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) which was also part of the present survey, estimated that there were only about 11,000 white-backed, 1,000 slender-billed and 44,000 long-billed vultures left in India. Their previous population was thought to number in tens of millions.

The study’s lead author, Vibhu Prakash from BNHS commented, “The slowing of the decline in vulture numbers across India for all three critically endangered species is the first sign that the government’s ban on veterinary Diclofenac is having its desired impact. Continued efforts are still required to protect the remaining small populations including halting the illegal use of human forms of the drug in the veterinary sector.”

While it is not easy to buy Diclofenac as a veterinary drug, it is child’s play to get the same from a neighbourhood chemist selling the human form of the drug. Many farmers looking for a quick solution to their animal’s pain do just that. Also, Diclofenac is not the only villain in the vulture world. 

A new veterinary drug, Aceclofenac, is equally dangerous as it gets mobilised into Diclofenac, said a paper published in July this year. It only points to the need for a comprehensive environment evaluation of veterinary drugs before granting licence.

Road ahead

Vultures have never been a favourite species for man, but contrary to popular sentiments, these natural scavengers do make the world a better place to live in by cleansing the environment of decaying animal matter. 

A planet without them would mean no easy escape from rotten smells and epidemic spreading germs thriving in the dead animal carcass.In a previous study conducted by Pune-based NGO Ela Foundation and the National Institute of Virology (NIV), it was also revealed that the drug is just one problem. As per the government’s directions under the Gram Swacchata Abhiyan, livestock carcasses have to be buried and not left outside in villages. This has led to food shortage for the birds. 

Though vulture centres set up by state governments in different regions of India have ensured that the birds get their daily meal, the initiative needs to gather momentum. Electrocution is a concern as well as dearth of tall nesting trees that the birds prefer. Many farmers spray cattle carcasses with pesticide such as organo-chlorine and organo-phosphorous to prevent them from spreading foul odour. This pesticide-infested carcass may be eaten by vultures leading to their death.

The catastrophic decline of vulture numbers may have ceased, but it is a small victory.For this to become the greatest conservation story of all time, the road ahead involves not just careful planning to remove all known poisons, but restoration of the safe havens for them to survive and breed.

Original Publication: Deccan Herald

Date: 26 November, 2012

Link:

A survey of fishing cat numbers  in areas with high human density in West Bengal has revealed that the major reason for their decline is the degradation of wetland habitats. A cat that depends on wetlands and marshes also symbiotically helps preserve this crucial ecosystem, observes Atula Gupta.

India is home to 15 species of cats with 11 of these being small and medium sized cats. Yet, for most people enamoured by the charms of royal predators like the tiger and the lion, these lesser cats remain unseen and unheard. Sometimes they are even mistaken for minor variations of the common cat and not the unique felids that they actually are. One such species is the fishing cat, a feline double the size of a domestic cat but less common. It lives a highly threatened life in a human infiltrated landscape.

In the reed beds and marshy lands of the Sundarbans, as dusk begins to fall, the fishing cat comes out to hunt its favourite meal – fish. Its olive grey double layered fur coat, webbed paws, small stocky built and a rudder like stubby tail help the cat not only dive into the water but swim like a pro.

Dispelling the common belief of cats hating water, fishing cats spend hours peering into rivers and ponds tracking the agile shadows and diving at a precisely calculated moment to catch their aquatic prey. It is therefore unjust to call fishing cats merely another cat variety. These feline anglers are in fact a substantial evidence of the great abilities and diversities of the cat family.

Distribution

The fishing cat is unevenly distributed throughout southern and southeast Asia. It is found in northeast India, the foot of the Himalayas, and a few scattered areas in the rest of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has marked this species as endangered. In India, these cats have been accorded Schedule I protection. It is the same level of protection that is given to tigers and elephants.

Similar to numerous other small sized species, these nocturnal cats are known only to a handful of locals and researchers. Surprisingly, it is not the lack of familiarity that is driving the species towards extinction. Over the years, these felids have shown an excellent ability to mingle and co-exist with humans. It is actually the string of problems associated with human settlements that are the real cause for concern.

According to Tiasa Adhya, a researcher and conservationist who surveyed the fishing cat population in areas with high human density in West Bengal, the major reason for their decline is the reduction and destruction of the wetland habitat. Farms, factories, illegal brick kilns and the constant need for land have led to the destruction of vegetation and conversion of marsh lands at an alarming pace.

In Howrah and Hoogly, two regions where fishing cats were plentiful in the past decades, the soft, muddy grounds, reed beds and mangrove belts are no more the natural environment around which humans adjust and exist.

Repeatedly, man-made topographical changes have ensured that urban structures find firmer ground even as the wetlands and its ancient inhabitants vanish in the rubble. Fishing cats have also been the target of retaliatory killings when they hunt livestock and poultry because of the lack of staple food. Often, killings are also triggered when the cats eye the same fish that villagers catch from their local ponds. Says Tiasa, “It is an ongoing challenge for a conservationist to try and conserve endangered species outside protected areas in human dominated landscapes. Often, there is a clash between development and conservation and I do not think it is at all easy or even possible sometimes to reconcile the differences.”

Dwindling numbers

Even in the other parts of the country, once known to have fishing cats, sightings have become rarer with every passing year. Researcher Shoumita Mukherji has spent more than two decades studying smaller cats of India. She says, while it was easy for her to sit for hours and observe a fishing cat in Rajasthan’s Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary) in 1989, on her return visit in 2010, she found none had been spotted in two years.

Mukherjee says she found indication through scat analysis that the animal still lived in the area but perhaps in a greatly reduced number. In West Bengal, the fishing cat is the state animal but very few people know the fact, says Tiasa. She adds, “Awareness generation about the cat needs both a top-down and bottom-up approach as people living with the cat as well as policy makers need to be educated about the cat’s endangered status.

Creation of empathy for the cat is easier said than done but this is exactly what might save it.” A cat that depends on the wetlands and marshes also symbiotically helps preserve this crucial ecosystem. The fishing cat might be a lesser known and a small-sized cat species but for a country that prides itself in its diversity, safeguarding the future of this species is surely akin to preserving its own identity.

Original Publication: Deccan Herald

Date: 5 November, 2012

Link: A Cate of nine lives? Not Quite

Sasan Gir National Park in Gujarat is still the last bastion of the Asiatic lion, and the local Maldharis have lived peacefully with the wild cat. What is upsetting the fragile natural balance is the increasing livestock population that is competing with the wild ungulates for the same forest sources, observes Atula Gupta.

Sasan Gir National Park in Gujarat is a conservation success story. What was 45 years ago a crumbling forest with the entire population of the Asiatic lion on its deathbed, has bounced back today into a verdant, self-sustaining ecosystem.

It is still the last bastion of the regal predator, but the human population here has made peace with nature and allowed the wild cat to reign and expand its brood. What is though beginning to shake the fragile natural balance is the increasing livestock population that is competing with wild ungulates for the same forest sources. Resultantly, the prey-predator dynamics of the region are starting to change.

Panthera leo persica or the Asiatic lion is a distant cousin of the African lion. But while the African lion has acres and acres of jungles and savannah under its territory, its Asian counterpart has had a turbulent history with ever-shrinking habitat and gun-friendly royalties killing the beast for pleasure and pomp.

It indeed was the Nawab of Junagadh who finally bestowed on the jungle king, the respect it deserved and banned hunting in his private landholdings. This and the declaration of Gir as a sanctuary and a national park in 1965 ensured that the Asiatic lion had a safe 1400 sq km of land to itself, if not a vast empire.

But the semi-arid region of Junagadh is also home to a pastoral community called the Maldharis. This community has long endured losses in livestock and human life, while many of their grazing practices and traditional customs have contributed to human-lion altercations. When it was first planned to create a protected area in Gir for the lions, stabilisation of the species population and the reclamation of its dwindling habitat focused on maintaining a workable human-lion co-existence.

Distorted food cycle

In a study conducted by Bombay Natural History Society, Smithsonian Institution and Yale University called the ‘The Gir Lion Project’ in 1970, it was found that about 21,000 domestic livestock grazed within the sanctuary and this number doubled or tripled during the dry season.

The research noted there was a very low population of wild herbivores as the competing cattle grazed in the forest grassland and left little for the deer and sambhars. Naturally, lions fed “almost exclusively” on Maldharis’ livestock in the absence of their natural prey. Consequently, to avoid future conflicts, Maldhari families were shifted between 1970 and 1985 and a rubber wall built to keep the livestock away from the forest. Wild herbivores were also bred to increase their population.

Today, there are more than 400 lions in Gir, and the population is steadily growing. The prey population of chital, sambhar, nilgai, wild boar, four-horned antelope, langur and chinkara have increased dramatically and their total population now stands at nearly 70,000. This is good news for the forest and a sustainable working scenario.

But with the number of domesticated herbivores like cattle and sheep beginning to increase once again, potential distortion of the food cycle and rise in human-lion conflict is a certainty.

According to a veteran forest department official, “Livestock population has reached the 1970 levels again, and there is increasing competition between domestic and wild herbivores, leading to degradation of patches in the forest area and more cases of carnivores attacking the Maldharis’ livestock.” The only possible solution is planning another re-location drive, but even experts realise that it is not an easy task to accomplish.

Conservation dilemmas

On top of the list are the financial costs that will be incurred to move and re-settle thousands of humans and tens of thousands of animals.

There will also be need for a vast new settling ground and an equally huge rehabilitation package give to each member of the community. Between 1972 and 1978, 588 families were shifted out of the Gir protected area. Each relocated family was given eight acres of cultivable and grazing land, 600 sq m of residential plot and Rs 6,050. A total of 257 families were not shifted and there were the 87 families that returned in spite of the relocation.

If relocation is planned yet again, the package size will be ten scales larger than what it was in the 70s. There is also no guarantee that the human dwellers of the forest will be gone forever. They might wish to return to their roots as before.

It is the same piece of land that the Maldharis and the Asiatic lions are laying their claim on. But while for the lions, it is literally the last place in the world to call home, for the other forest dwellers, the timing might just be right, to understand the criticality of the situation and willingly look for green pastures outside. It is but a small price to pay to secure, not just their own future but also of the land they love so much.

Original Publication: Deccan Herald

Date: 17 September, 2012

Link: Staking claim to the same pie

The Supreme Court’s order of banning tiger safaris in core areas of all the 42 tiger
reserves in the country was made with a simple reasoning – to provide the tiger with
much needed solitude and let the big cat enjoy its kingdom without the hounding
paparazzi. But leaving the tiger alone is the last thing in the minds’ of the tour
operators whose life revolves around selling the national animal. In the aftermath of
the new code of conduct the nation is still mulling whether the move will really help
bring the tiger back from the brink of extinction.

Booming Business

Every year, thousands of tourists from around the world, armed with fancy cameras
and English – Hindi dictionaries make a beeline for India to see the nation’s second
most popular attraction after the Taj Mahal – the tiger. Luring them are the tour
operators who have over the years gained the acute sense of understanding every
demand that a tourist might have. So even when the hotels and resorts are in the
wilderness, swimming pool, spa, yoga classes and wi-fi connectivity make sure that
the city bred guests are at home and ready to spent thousands on services.
It is also not just the private players who are gaining from business in tiger’s
kingdom. State governments too are promoting tourism in protected areas fiercely
because it earns them revenues. Take the case of Madhya Pradesh. The state is
home to three of the most popular tiger destinations – Kanha, Pench and
Bandhavgarh. The state earns close to Rs 15 crore by way of entry fee only which is
not more than Rs 22 for the national parks. But add to it the amount spent by a
tourist to buy an entire tour package, the tourism earnings easily shoot up to Rs 150-
200 crore. The state forest department not only uses the earning to manage the
national parks but also shares it with the state. Karnataka and Rajasthan too have an
equally big share of revenue coming solely from tiger tourism.
But the profits the tourist resorts make is often at the cost of local resources.
According to a yet to be published study by a forest official in Madhya Pradesh, in
2009, 48 resorts in Kanha extracted 540,000 litres of ground water per day. The
hotels also consumed 302 tonnes of firewood, 42 percent of which came from the
forests.

Conservation Vs Commercialization

In March last year, Bhopal based non-profit Prayatna had filed a public interest
petition pleading that critical tiger habitats should be kept devoid of any human
disturbances including tourism. It is this petition that prompted the SC this July to first
put into place a revenue sharing system where tour operators had to part with 10
percent of their profits for conservation. The court had also summoned individual
state governments to define the buffer and core areas of their state national parks.

Miffed by the lack of response from seven state forest departments, the court took
the strict measure of an interim ban on tiger tourism.
Experts opine that the move can do more harm than good to the tigers. Tourists
unknowingly play the important role of extended ears and eyes of the forest guards
when they can observe ludicrous activities within the forest and also deter poachers.
But some say that poaching activities occur only in the darkness of the night when
tourists are not around. Others also believe that the revenue generated through
tourism helps local communities. But again views are divided in this regard. While
some say the ban will hit hard on locals who have opened food joints and tourist
homes in the fringes of the forest, according to researcher M D Madhusudan from
Nature Conservation Society at Mysore, elitist model of tourism that generate
revenue for the private sector have very little profits that percolates down to the local
community.

Eco-discipline

From truly the conservation point of view, most conservationists believe that even if
total ban of tourist activities is a bit too harsh, a more regulated module of eco-
tourism is needed urgently. “While it is important to regulate tourists, it will be a
national loss if the SC order takes away common man’s chance to see the tiger,”
says Madhusudan.

India’s tigers have become a symbol of conservation that everyone relates too. But
as one senior officer of the Environment Ministry rightly puts, “The main objective of
creating a tiger reserve is to conserve tigers, tourism is only a by-product.” It is once
again the question of setting our priorities right– do we want to see the last remaining
tigers bypassing all laws of nature, or do we want…really want the tigers to last.

Original Publication: Deccan Herald

Date: 31 July, 2012

Featured Image by Alexa from Pixabay

When the tiger is saved, it sets off a domino effect that saves its prey, their food source and every small and big species thriving in the  vast habitat. The tiger thus ensures that the entire kingdom is safe, observes Atula Gupta

The kingdom of an emperor is defined by its geography and its dwellers and it is often the king who ensures that the resources suffice the needs of his subjects. Whether you look at this scenario from a human perspective or from the perspective of the forest king, the outcome remains the same.

A tiger, just like human beings, has a vital obligation towards its forest kingdom. That of being the primary predator and thus the primary controller that helps sustains the balance between resources and consumers of the forest. When the tiger, the umbrella species is saved, it thus starts a domino effect that saves its prey, their food source and every small and big species thriving in the vast habitat. The tiger thus is not called the king in vain. Its safety ensures that the entire kingdom is safe too.

Habitat saviour

The concept of an umbrella species was first proposed in 1981 when Frankel and Soule suggested that directing conservation measures at large species could provide protection to other species that were not the focus of the conservation efforts. But why is the tiger an umbrella species?

According to Ullas Karanth, one of the most prominent conservationists and tiger experts of India, every week, a tiger must kill one large prey animal. This can be a deer, antelope, wild pig or wild cattle. Therefore, in order to sustain a population of 100 tigers which also includes 25 territory holding females with cubs, at least a prey population of 50,000 animals is needed.

To give all these animals a suitable habitat, even if not very roomy, 25 animals living in each square kilometer would need a 2,000 sq. km. area. Karanth also says that if the tiger is living in a habitat like a mangrove forest where prey population is lesser, they need even more habitat and a larger area to live and hunt.

Thus, with a ratio of 500 prey for one tiger, a very large area of forest cover can be protected. This can eventually help protect a number of species thriving in the jungle, from a giant tree to an endangered frog.

Diminishing status

Sadly, the tiger has lost hold of its empire in the last 150 years. Today, the 1,706 tigers estimated to be present in India, fit in a mere six per cent of the country’s forest cover. Although the forest cover suitable for tigers occurs in over 3,00,000 square kilometers in India, surviving source populations occur in less than 25,000 square kilometers!

The protected reserves too are of not much help. Although now there are 40 or so tiger reserves covering 40,000 square kilometers, several of these simply cannot support viable source populations on their own, and, some are even virtually devoid of tigers.
Poaching for tiger parts has re-surfaced as a major curse in the last few years. Only last month, a tiger was chopped into pieces and left strewn around the Tadoba Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. Poachers now function as a well operated gang and use everything, from traditional snares to ammunitions to kill the wild cats and sell them to South Asian countries for huge profits.

But while poaching is a recurrent crisis, the overhunting of prey population of deers and sambhar is perhaps a problem that is even more dangerous and often overlooked.
Human encroachment of precious tiger habitat too is what is making life for the tigers so challenging.

Unplanned conservation

India, along with 12 other tiger nations of the world, has set a goal to double the tiger population globally by 2022. While the efforts to achieve this target are constantly made, what they lack is a planned cohesive approach. In a part of Corbett reserve, camera surveillance is now being used to observe the tigers 24×7. In Maharashtra, the state government has made the bold move of allowing rangers to shoot poachers on sight.

Armed commandoes have been deployed in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to scare poachers away. The autonomous systems of protection are excellent, but it is the unison of their ideas that will ultimately re-instate a lost empire.

Karanth also feels that massive investments targeted at tiger reserves in the name of conservation, appear to be taking the form of misguided and destructive “habitat management” practices on one hand, and rural development activities under the label of “eco-development” on the other.

He rightly remarks, “Conservation action must be rooted in sound science, although conservation actors may necessarily be inspired by the sheer emotional appeal of the big cat. Given protection and reasonable management, India can hold at least five times more tigers than it does now.”

Under the umbrella

That the tiger is a remarkable representative of the entire ecosystem is an undeniable fact. It is also unquestionable that saving this umbrella species can alter the imbalance of the entire natural habitat. But while the concept stamps the importance of saving the tigers, what we need to understand is that the umbrella tag expands the protection work and does not simplify it.

From the wild mushroom growing in the forest cover, to the giant trees, elephants, leopards and other mammals, each and every species has to be cherished and nurtured in order to save the primary predator. If the tiger is protecting the kingdom, the kingdom too is working to save their king.

Original Publication: Deccan Herald

Date: 2 July, 2012

Link: When the hunter turns saviour

Over 3,500 ha of Nagarhole and 2,000 ha of Bandipur Tiger Reserve were destroyed in a recent fire. In the cycle of life and death that is part of Nature, wild fires cause destruction so that regeneration may take place. But when human beings err, things can take a tragic turn, writes Atula Gupta.

Normally, the pristine forests at the foothills of the Western Ghats are teeming with wildlife all year long. Chital deer hop about from one green pasture to another, Giant Malabar Squirrels spend lazy afternoons snoozing on their tree top homes and big predators like the tiger patiently wait for the opportune moment when they can move for the kill. But this year, the forest saw what it had not seen in the last 40 years, an inferno that spread its fiery arms and embraced all that stood in its way. Huge trees rumbled, anguished animals ran for cover and in a matter of moments, the verdant patch of moist deciduous forest turned into a black morgue with charred remains of its inhabitants scattered all around. 

Forest fires are not an unnatural phenomenon. In the cycle of life and death that Mother Nature has created, wild fires have a role of destruction so that regeneration may take place. But while the natural act is controlled, the same act takes a tragic turn when human beings err. 

Over 3,500 hectare area (ha) of Nagarhole and 2,000 ha of Bandipur Tiger Reserve were destroyed in the recent catastrophe. According to wildlife biologist and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) member K Ullas Karanth, 6.1 per cent of the forest cover in Nagarhole was damaged. The charred areas included the Anechowkur range, Veeranahosalli, Kallahalla, Metikuppe, Nagarhole and DB Kuppe of the forest. The Bandipur reserve lost 2.6 per cent of its forest area with Moleyur and Moolehole losing more than five per cent of wildlife. 

Annual occurrence

Fires are a major source of degradation of forests in the entire country, and from mid-February till mid-June, almost 50 per cent of India’s forest cover is prone to fire, according to the Forest Survey of India. The dry, summer heat and the dead leaves covering the forest ground easily make conditions suitable for a disaster. This year, wildfires have already been reported in Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha and in Maharashtra. 

But while forest fires cannot be predicted, pre-fire preparedness can at least nip the menace in the bud. According to Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) website, as part of Disaster Management Support Programme of Department of Space, forest fires have been recognised as a disaster. A comprehensive system called ‘Indian Forest Fire Response and Assessment System’ (INFFRAS) is operational since 2005 which gives pre-fire warning, provides near real-time active fire detection and monitoring during fire  and assesses the damage post-fire. More importantly, forest fire alerts are sent daily to nodal officers of state forest departments in the fire season. NASA too provides satellite imagery of the vulnerable spots. However, Karanth says that sometimes the imagery provided by satellites also underestimate fire incidents because of possible influences of cloud cover, heavy smoke, lack of satellite coverage at the time of fire incidents and tree canopy completely obscuring the fire. He adds though that this cannot account for the ineptness of the rangers.

Even as acres of scarred, barren land and smoldered remains bore testimony to the tragic fire at Nagarhole, government officials were busy passing the blame on to tribal settlements rather than save what could be saved. Being the critical habitat of the tiger, Asian elephants and gaurs, among other species, Nagarhole and Bandipur reserves are like precious gems that need absolute safeguarding from all catastrophes. But environmentalists feel that barring the forest rangers and contract workers who are usually deployed in these forests, the State did nothing to save the jungle from the danger of fire. 

A wildlife activist based in Bangalore points out that fire-watchers and jeeps temporarily employed in the first week of January to draw fire lines and keep a check on the danger, were never allotted this year. A member of the forest staff too states that an alarm could not be raised in time as the wireless sets they were provided with, did not work.

The aftermath

Together with the adjoining Bandipur,  Mudumalai National Park and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, the Nagar­hole National Park forms the largest protected area in South India, totalling 2,183 sq km. From the commercially important teak, rosewood, sandalwood and silver oak to the conspicuous tree species such as Golden Shower Tree and Flame of the Forest, the area has a flora diversity that is enviable. The prey-predator population too is excellent.  For such a magnanimous biome, therefore, rising from the ashes is not going to be a one day, one month or a one-year task. It will regenerate bit by bit as each season presents its own set of challenges and then too, it will take time for the animals to feel safe again and return to dwell in these parts.  “A house can be reconstructed or a whole town can be rebuilt after a major fire. But it will take 20 to 30 years for a forest to regain what it has lost in a fire” says former range forest officer KM Chinnappa. As nature heals gradually, it is at present that it needs maximum support so that the forest is not emptied even before it replenishes its sources. For the so-called guardians of nature now is the time to show they care.

Original Publication: Deccan Herald

Date: 2 April, 2012

Link: A Burning Concern

Featured Image by Ylvers from Pixabay

The discovery of six slaughtered elephants in two of Thailand’s national parks last month has exposed a nasty secret about the country’s elephant tourism industry. Conservationists point out that baby elephant trade is a lucrative business in the country, writes Atula Gupta

Thailand’s booming tourism industry owes much of its success to the gentle pachyderm. The elephant has not only been part of the country’s glorious past but is also shaping its future by playing a pivotal role in attracting tourists to this nation. Elephant camps mushrooming across Thailand are proof enough that tourists love taking jumbo rides, but it is the same camps’ relentless need to satisfy their guests that is beginning to affect the wild elephant population. Experts claim that poachers are today working in tandem with corrupt officials to kill mother elephants, abduct their babies and train them for tourist dollars.

The discovery of six slaughtered elephants last month in two of Thailand’s national parks has exposed a nasty secret about the country’s ubiquitous elephant tourism industry.

According to Dutch national Edwin Wiek, founder of the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand and conservationists who have spent a lifetime in the country, the baby elephant trade is a lucrative business which is the real reason behind the massacre. He says that the six deaths were just the tip of the iceberg and such hideous crimes were occurring almost every day in Thailand, not for the ivory or meat of the adult animals but to satisfy the growing demand of tourist elephant camps.

Kaeng Krachan and Kui Buri national parks are two of Thailand’s biggest protected areas with more than 500 wild tuskers roaming these regions. According to Wiek, as the demand for elephants is rising in tourist camps and not enough babies are born in captivity, the gap is being filled by wild baby elephants. An elephant calf can fetch up to one million baht (32,260 dollars) at camps in Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Pattaya, Phuket, where they are trained to perform tricks and provide rides for tourists. He argued that the incident demonstrated that the trade in baby pachyderms was no longer just a cross-border business with Myanmar, but that poachers were now targeting Thailand’s own depleted herd of fewer than 2,000 wild elephants.

Entertainment value

Elephants have been revered in Thailand for many centuries. Famous for their strength, valour and pleasant nature, they were important in battle, with kings mounted on elephants fighting the Burmese to defend Thailand on many occasions. A white elephant is even included in the flag of the Royal Thai navy, and the “order of the white elephant” is one of the highest honours, bestowed by the king.

But in history, the biggest association of elephants with locals has been through the timber industry. Renowned as the beast of burden, the Thai people have always relied on jumbo strength for logging. But the Thai emperor banned logging in 1988 and an estimated 3,000 domesticated elephants shifted from the timber industry to tourism.

Even today, the animals are classified as livestock, but require proper ownership papers to prove they are not wild elephants. Because baby elephants don’t require registration papers until they are nine years old, it is fairly easy to get babies poached from the wild and bring them into the legal fold by providing them with foster captive mothers. It also makes it easier to transport them from the forests to the camps. Once in the camps, the calves are torture trained to learn the ways of the human world.

They quickly learn and obey the words of command, get to know their mahout, and get used to being mounted and dismounted.

Poachers who have been interviewed say it is common to kill up to three elephants to take one baby from the forest as elephants bond strongly with the rest of the herd.

According to Wiek, the murderous rituals continue because from almost 100 wild elephants nabbed from the forest, the entire smuggling gang may make a profit of 50 million baht annually even if they do not cut the precious ivory tusk of the dead jumbo.

He adds that a simple DNA test can prove that the captive elephants and their claimed offspring are not related.

Cost of tourism

Although Thai officials have denied all these charges blatantly and have also raided Wiek’s animal rescue centre on grounds of unfinished paperwork, those on the field believe that the conservationist’s allegations are not fabricated. “Burma has logging but no tourism, while Thailand has tourism but no logging, and the Burmese want the Yankee dollar and the Thais have it because this is a cash economy,” said Richard Lair, author of a book on Thailand’s elephant industry. “So just as water flows to the lowest level, elephants flow to money.”

With a six-per cent share, tourism is a growing contributor to Thailand’s economy and ironically the nation has the same six per cent of the world’s population of Indian elephants. The population size reduction of this endangered species has been inferred to be at least 50 per cent over the last three generations.

The tug of war between material want and ecological treasure thus continues. Offered in sacrifice are none other than the nation’s pachyderms.

While tourists spend about 15 dollars for an hour-long elephant ride, the price the elephant is paying for this joy ride is its own life. As the entertainment quotient rises, the downfall of Thailand’s cultural icon is certain.

Original Publication: Deccan Herald

Date: 12 March, 2012

Link: Thailand’s Jumbo Secret

Featured Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

A team of scientists at Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve reason that analysing sound recordings of frog croaking combined with readings from climate data loggers could improve our understanding of the effect of climate change on amphibian populations, writes Atula Gupta

Sitting 100 feet above the ground, in the dense canopies of the Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, three researchers were keen to finish their work before the approaching rain clouds drenched them from head to toe. But the trio were distracted, because with the impending storm, the forest had come alive with songs of frogs that happily conversed with the hovering clouds. It was right at that moment that a striking idea was born in the minds of the scientists: What if frog calls changed with changing climate? What if frogs could foretell the future of the planet?

Intrigued by the cacophony of sound that the rains triggered, KS Seshadri with T Ganesh, and S Devy initiated a monitoring programme to document the presence, or absence, of amphibians in the Kakachi-Kodayar region of Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR), paying special attention to canopy frogs.

The study’s first aim is to document anurans, their calls and habitat, in the canopy or on the ground, and will be the first time that such an extensive effort is being made in India to monitor amphibians for long-term population dynamics based on calls.

Since frogs and toads respond to changes in atmospheric moisture and temperature, and specific frogs sing at specific times of the year, the team reasoned that an analysis of sound recordings, combined with readings from climate data loggers, could help improve understanding of the effect of climate change on amphibian populations.

Over the past two years, the researchers have successfully gathered lots of sounds during the south west and north-east monsoons using a programmable automated sound recording device called song meter. These calls are then being matched with individual frogs to identify them.

At the third stage, the sounds are being coupled with automated weather data logger device to know eventually how over the years, weather conditions are changing and affecting the presence or absence of frogs.

Weather forecasters

Amphibian skin is extremely thin, which makes frogs acutely sensitive to even minor changes in temperature, humidity, and air or water quality.

“Amphibians have long been considered to be the barometers of the climate and any subtle variations in the atmospheric conditions like moisture availability and temperature is likely to have profound impacts on them,” said Seshadri. According to him, some frogs vocalise in a wide window of time while some are active for a very short duration, may be for a few weeks. If the climate change predictions are true, by monitoring the vocalising activity, an activity calendar for each of the indicator species can be made. The information can be discerned in the context of climatic variations.

Worldwide, various researchers have noted that frog species are dying at a very high rate and global warming may be the reason for the widespread extinctions. In 2006, American scientists suggested that many of the county’s frog species were vanishing due to deadly infectious fungal diseases spurred by changing water and air temperatures.
“Disease is the bullet killing frogs, but climate change is pulling the trigger,” said Pounds, lead study author. “Global warming is wreaking havoc on amphibians and will cause staggering losses of biodiversity if we don’t do something fast.”

India is home to 277 amphibians of which about 150 occupy the IUCN Red List for threatened species. Many of these species have been recently described to science and are already in danger of extinction. The long-term monitoring of frog activity therefore will be invaluable in knowing the greater impact of climate change and also saving the species.

Role frogs play

But why invest so much time and money on saving frogs and not tigers that naturally seem to have a more poignant presence in the forests and are also known as the umbrella species whose conservation will help save all other species?

In nature’s drama, even the seemingly insignificant frogs have an important role to play. Amphibians, although small, have a great impact in sustaining the biodiversity and ensuring that forest cover remains, monsoon showers occur in time and river do not run dry. If frogs and toads are gone, it will lead to rise in insect population, their main preys. These insects will feed on leaves destroying forests and leading to zero ground water precipitation. Clouds will not form and thus without rains, rivers will dry.

That the disappearance of frogs will then ultimately affect forests, rivers and humans is a given.

The human-led changes brought on to the planet have changed the dynamics of the earth so much that the possibility of mass extinction of all living beings is no more a fantastic thought.

That the summers are becoming hotter and winters unbearably cold, are phenomenon that everyone observes but no one cares enough to interpret the changing pattern with human enforced changes like pollution, deforestation and excessive harnessing of natural resources.

India also trails far behind when it comes to actual on-site data of its flora and fauna. Will the croak alarm finally wake us from our ignorant slumber? The answer lies in the future.

Original Publication: Deccan Herald

Date: 13 February, 2012

Link: What Frogs Tell Us About the Planet

Featured Image by Couleur from Pixabay