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The land of the tiger

I always loved the Sigur Region in the middle of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve. People are nice and nature magnificent. You will find here a diversity of traditional cultures, beautiful jungles with tigers and elephants. Still, if you are interested in culture or nature and you envisage to visit this region, think twice.

The jungle is littered with plastics and replete with cattle. Loudspeakers are in all villages (a blatant ignorance Supreme Court orders) blasting their awful popular music up to three kilometers in the jungle, days and nights for weeks. Roads are loaded with speeding, honking or picnicking cars. For a few hundred Rupees (more), your driver can annoy a herd of elephants to make a female charge. You can flash a tiger at night, with the satisfaction that you have endangered this species more, a princely pleasure. Chance is that bonfires will be with forest wood or the “food” (it’s for tourists) you eat in the village has also been cooked with forest wood. If there is left over, you can throw it to an elephant.

If you like responsible ecotourism (I may be tired with continuous “music” for the last few days), wait and see if it improves.

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud

The “Sigur “River”, a former ecosystem, source of protein for Tribal people and water for wildlife.

When we first settled into Cheetal Walk in the 1960’s, the favorite activity of my siblings and myself, encouraged by our father of course, was catching fish in the Sigur River or Sigur Halla. There were all sorts and sizes of fish. My father used to go to the larger pools with a bamboo rod, line and worms dug up near the kitchen, to catch some carp for dinner. In fact, the tribal woman working for us said quite sadly one day: “poor man is catching fish so that his family can eat.” Those were the fish those days, sometimes reaching a few kilos in weight.

In 1968 everything changed: the river went dry. This was because of the construction of the Pykhara dam in the upper reaches of the river, increasing agricultural activity and diversion of water downstream. There were fish of all types and shapes and colors flopping around on the sand or dying in the pools. The river was fetid with the smell of dead fish. Many animals enjoyed this special treat, but the elephants were distraught by the lack of clean water. They dug wells in the river bed and waited patiently for the water to rise up to drink. We went fishing with the tribal children and caught some of the larger fish. We even caught an enormous eel well over a meter in length weighing about 10 kg.

The Sigur Halla started drying up every year and the fish disappeared. After the rains I would go to the river and see fingerlings emerging from the eggs that had been deposited in the sand. This continued for a few years and we enjoyed fishing with bedsheets, catching the small fish and putting them in an aquarium. My brother Mark used to have two aquaria in the 1990’s with some of the river fish. We used to put some in our well. Our well held water even in the dry season, although the level was very low. We had not been to Cheetal Walk for many years except for short spells, and when we moved there in 2013, the river had just become a storm drain with red muddy water only flowing during the rains. When peering into the well, I noticed one fish: a species of murrell (Channa spp.) also called snakehead, at the surface of the water. Seeing its sad lonely life, I thought it was the sole survivor of the fishes we had put inside the well. There were several species of murrell in the river, but now I never saw even one. During the rains this year I looked again for fingerlings. No luck.

I was determined to find a companion for our lonely murrell, so I asked our cook, who is a tribal person from this region, to find me some river fish. He said that none of the rivers in the region, Anaikatti, Sigur or Mavinhalla had even one fish. All had disappeared due to the drastic change in flow patterns. This got me really worried. He reiterated that there were plenty of fish forty years ago but all had gone. About 25 or more fish species became extinct in the Sigur Halla.

Then a few days ago we wanted to clean the well and noticed more than one fish in the well. What joy! The Murrell was not alone. Maybe we need to examine old wells and other permanent water bodies (if any) in the region to re-stock the Sigur Halla if it ever recovers from the colossal negligence and indifference it has suffered from human hands. To make the River flow again, we need to be sure there is a minimum amount of water at all times, and young ecologists who take its future in their hands.

Priya Davidar.

I got this image from ConservatioBytes.com, the blog of an eminent ecologist, Corey Bradshaw.

http://conservationbytes.com/2015/10/13/only-thing-worse-than-being-labelled-deadly-is-not-being-called-anything-at-all/

It originated from Bill Gates’s blog, from WHO data and various other official agencies, with wide margin of errors. Bill Gates is interested in mosquito borne diseases, we are interested in elephants.

http://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Most-Lethal-Animal-Mosquito-Week

If the figure had taken pollution (the outcome of some people’s greed) into consideration, then millions of people are killed every year by other humans, according to a study in Environmental Research Letters (doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034005), which makes us and by far, the most dangerous animal species on earth. Sorry for the mosquitoes.

These considerations help us to bring the human-elephant conflict back to reality. In general, this problem is presented out of proportion by the media. Why? Not because of its relative importance but because of its populistic appeal: “the authorities called experts to address the problem”, do we read. It looks serious and elephants are easy targets.

The most important causes of mortality like pollution, rash driving and various forms of safety issues (lack of warnings on road repairs; live electric wires on pavements, distribution of unsafe water, lack of application of buildings norms, unhygienic restaurants, etc.) are ignored because it would fix responsibilities on the perpetuators. And laissez-faire is the rule if you don’t want to punish the (human) culprits.

Laissez-faire is also the rule for elephants because we don’t want to punish the (human) culprits either. If you believe that the hundreds of human deaths by elephants are due to the nasty nature of these animals, you are mistaken. Many “conflicts” are “accidents” where people did not respect the law (you can’t enter into protected areas for example, but this is not strictly enforced) and many other “conflicts” are the consequence of the lack of management (unregulated constructions in corridors, inappropriate agricultural practices, forest encroachments). Very few people are killed intentionally by “vicious” elephants, although it does happen. In the region where we live, human deaths due to elephants are mostly because due to carelessness.

The consequence of the lack of application of the law is the eventual extinction of the Asian elephant.  It is the easy way to avoid our responsibilities.

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud.

I usually complain about Mr. Peter Davidar taking photographs. Little did I know he was with his camera when we were witnessing the incident of a baby elephant killed. Here are his photographs – I won’t complain any more.

Vehicles waiting for elephants, including the tanker (see our previous post).

Mother with dead baby.

Rivaldo is a symbol

As the readers of the Hindu know, (http://m.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/friendly-jumbo-injured-again/article7631100.ece) Rivaldo, the emblematic elephant of the Sigur Range, Nilgiris, has been attacked by another tusker and hurt. For ten days, the Forest Department staff including the Thepakaddu veterinary doctor and the Singara Range Officer supervised the treatment operation at the Sigur Nature Trust premises. The operation was non-traumatic for the elephant because he was not captured as Rivaldo has already been treated in the Sigur Nature Trust premises, he was easily brought back by a Forest Guard who regularly looks after him. Antibiotics and nutrients were delivered in fruits. Since Rivaldo is very docile, the wounds could be sprayed with various medicines, in a relatively safe environment.

The treatment was effective and Rivaldo’s wounds regressed. However, treatments without capture present the inconvenience that wounds cannot be cleaned directly and sutured. The healing is slower and the Forest Department staff and all Rivaldo’s friends will follow him up till the wounds are healed.

Treating an elephant is a remarkable operation involving approximately 15 staff members for ten days, plus the cost of medicine and food to maintain the elephant focused without stressing him. Some guards need to be very close to the elephant, feeding him by hand. Other personnel, including the veterinary doctor take enormous (but controlled) risks approaching the elephant on the side. These operations require expertise and are relatively dangerous for the public, as the elephant remains free of its movement.

All wild elephants cannot be treated because in principle, they are supposed to survive in natural conditions provided by protected areas, where they sometimes meet with accidents, infections, predators etc. and die of natural death. But as tuskers have been heavily poached, it is good management practice to treat the easier cases. Moreover, some animals, like Rivaldo, become emblematic – the symbol of humanity’s love towards elephants. In a world where Asian elephant are endangered according to the IUCN, it is comforting to see dedicated attention extended towards elephants.

During the whole operation, Rivaldo has been calm and gentle. He is a real foody and no one knows for sure if he understood why he was treated with jackfruits, sugarcane and other candy-like food. But all witness to this operation can testify that Rivaldo was delighted of the attention he received, slowly closing his eyes when his favorite guard petted him. At the end of each day, he had his five minutes of absolute peace with humanity and it was beautiful to see.

Our desire here is to inform, without being sensational (hence the absence of names, except that of Rivaldo) and without attempting to express any expert opinion. We were host of this operation, our opinion cannot be that of a professional veterinary doctor. However, we want to pay homage to the Forest Department staff who was present for 10 continuous days, during the week ends or festivals. Without their dedication, Rivaldo may not have survived. We are grateful for their effort.

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud.