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- The recent attempt to unsuccessfully translocate and rehabilitate a “problem elephant”, as described by the State Forest Department, has highlighted the need for better cooperation among Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka while releasing elephants in the tri-junction area of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR).
- The elephant in question, Pandalur Makhna-2 (PM2), had briefly made a foray away from the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) and into the neighbouring Wayanad when political pressure forced Kerala’s Forest Department to capture the animal.
- Pressure mounted on the Forest Department after the elephant was captured on the CCTV camera pushing down a man at SulthanBathery in Wayanad. Orders were passed soon to capture the elephant and turn it into a captive elephant, which many conservationists feel was “unjustified”.
- PM2 was released in the MTR, which is flanked on two sides by the Bandipur Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Karnataka and the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala and the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) and the Nilgiris and Gudalur Forest Divisions on the other.
- A conservationist working in the landscape said that releasing elephants in this area was tricky owing to the jurisdictions of the Forest Departments of the three States.
- “If an elephant captured in Tamil Nadu is released here, the Forest Departments of Karnataka and Kerala will chase it away from their ranges, limiting its habitat. Moreover, if the elephant enters the neighbouring State, pressure mounts from political parties to capture the animal, which is what has happened with PM2,” added the conservationist.
- Mohanraj, a Nilgiris-based conservationist who has assisted the Tamil Nadu Forest Department in keeping a tab on translocated elephants in the past, said a joint committee, comprising Forest Department officials and experts of all the three States, could be formed. It could be consulted when an elephant is relocated to the landscape.
Behavioural patterns
- “This will ensure that all three Forest Departments can share information on the behavioural patterns of the animal in question and can come up with strategies to mitigate negative interactions between newly translocated tuskers and local residents,” he said.
- In the recent past, the Forest Department has had mixed results in relocating elephants in the MTR.
- In 2020, a tusker, released into Sathyamangalam after being captured in Hosur, died after suffering a fall while acclimatising itself to his new habitat in the MTR. Elephants released in the MTR have also been captured by the Forest Department in Karnataka, while there have been a few successes like that of Vinayaga, an elephant captured in Coimbatore, which has not had any serious negative interaction with people since its release.
- TarshThekaekara, founder of Shola Trust, said translocations need to be undertaken right at the start when an elephant starts having negative interactions with people.
- “PM2 had negative interactions for over three years prior to his capture — mainly breaking kitchens and eating rice stocks — and had become highly habituated to people.
- Unlike elephants in the wild that spend 14-18 hours a day foraging for foods, getting micro- and macro-nutrients and exercise, these crop-raiders get their macro-nutrients in a few hours, but miss out on micro-nutrients and exercise.
- This is not good for the elephants or local people,” said Dr.Thekaekara. It becomes very difficult for such animals to alter behaviour unless forced to do so by continuous monitoring and being driven away from human habitations.
- “Translocating young dispersing males to a completely different landscape before they get too habituated can be one tool to prevent such an extensive damage by individual elephants,” he said, suggesting that elephants captured in the Nilgiri biosphere region could be relocated to habitats south of the Palghat gap, where the male-female sex ratio is more skewed towards females, leading to less competition among the males.
- A re-look at how elephants are translocated may also help to increase the chances of a successful translocation operation, Mr. Mohanraj said.
SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB
