Giri : Outcome of Human elephant conflict

Giri,another orphan is a consequence of Human Elephant conflict rescued by Forest officials in the month of March.Now it is in AAZP along with Urigam and other calves.Its tale is hapless as like Urigam. I am passing on the information provided by one of the forest official who was on the spot by the time.Nelmar kothur is a village comes under Thalli range.Though I haven't been to the village before,could percieve where it locates.I could recall,I and my NGO members once went to inspect the main corridor named Muthayal madugu bordering states Tamilnadu and Karnataka.FD is percieving that Elephants from Bannerghatta national park migrates via this corridor into Tamilnadu during harvesting season and chooses the same route to return.Why is this information?.Aye,the subject range,Thalli is the first access range for the elephants to cross and it normally start in the month of October and continues until Feb.Villagers have to give up their routine sleep during those months to protect their crops harvested/being harvested.Till now the deterrent what they are using are crackers and solar fencing.Fragmentation of corridors by so many packets of villages and their favourite crop like Raghi are one of the main fueling reason for HEC.

It was mid day ,the herd enters the field to me not sure whether for crop raiding.This calf just less than 2 weeks old went into the field along with its herd.Villagers as usual gathered in groups attempt to drive them back to the forest.The elephants were in run.This calf was unable to pick up the pace with others,slipped into the dry canal.People lifted it and soon after the message arrived,the Forest officials report to the spot includes District forest officer too.They decided to drive it back to join its herd.So they tied it up with a bush planted nearby.The calf screams and one of the elephant maybe its mother rushes to the spot,lift the calf by its trunk and returned to its herd.After a while unbelievably,the calf was left alone by its herd.Forest officials attempt to push it back to the herd,but it went in vain.The herd was abandoning the calf by moving away from him.The efforts of rejoining itself to its herd is failed.Eventually late after evening,forest officials decided and took it to AAZP,Chennai.

As per the information from the caretaker Arumugam(AAZP),came to know that the calf was stumbling,unable to walk for few days and it took days to set its health condition right by Zoo officials. Tender coconut is one effective supplement feeded to the calf to improve its health condition and it is hopeful still now.One thing I understand is that during dry season elephants are in move for search of water and food and many instances of HEC happens around this time.Still now Forest department is not well equipped to handle these pachyderms and regime is not interested in obtaining permanent solution to solve this issue.As per current reality, say a watcher in melagiri(maybe all the forest range in india) is appointed to look on his beat which is approximately around 1500 hectares,that too in their mid age around 40 plus. It shows the amount of seriousness the indian government has on the wilderness by holding few resources in FD.Moreover the current detterent against illegal actions are not effective. Lot of measures need to be taken and that lies mainly in hands of authorised personnel I believe.

Photo credits : Mr. Kandasamy,Biologist

Adoptation program and Urigam

Urigam,How is he now?.My mind tells me to find out atleast twice or thrice in a week. While I was enquiring with zoo officials,came to know that,due to recent raise in temperature it has got gastritis problem."After undergoing some medical treatment includes diet of coconut water its doing fine now" told by its caretaker Mr.Arumugam.The calf is still feeding on lactogen and dairy products.There is a nice article on urigam published in one of the newspaper recently.The family THAT FOSTERS ELEPHANTS

Adoption details for your view

From Apr 2010 to Mar 2011 (financial yearly basis) cost : INR 2.7 lac
From Current to 4 months forward cost : INR 620 per day
and INR 800 per day in subsequent months

The cost varied due to its diet , for further clarification please feel free to contact either

Biologist Mr Shekar @ +919445228332 (or)
Zoo Director Mr Anandasamy @ +919444264128

I spoke to Zoo Director Mr.Anandasamy regarding adoptation program for this calf.He said he will issue a tax exemption certificate and special permission to the donor to visit rehabilitation center. He and even myself believe that the adoptation program(share for care) promotes conservation and awareness especially among the kids who wish to celebrate an occassion like Birthday along with the calf.I still recall the moment on my first day at rehabilitation center.The calves are coming back to their abode after play like kids.I can also percieve that they are so attached and they needs us to look after them like their own kin.Dr.Bhaskaran famous elephant researcher from ANCF told me that Elephants also maintain social status and they won't easily accept new member to their family.There are two more rescued calves Sharon and Narashiman in rehabilitation center mingling with urigam currently.Their condition were also pathetic when they brought to the zoo.Specifically to mention,sharon's leg got hurt badly and it took long time to heal.

Urigam range: Quite interesting news came to our ears this time out of our biodiversity survey.Yes,it is Grizzled giant squirrel and Four horn antelope,the endangered species sighted and confirmed by none other than us in urigam range.Despite anthropogenic pressure in the range,found these species at the brink of extinction.We from KANS have planned to extend the period of Biodiversity survey and concentrate more in study of small mammals,ecology of Grizzled giant squirrel and Four horn antelope in melagiri region .The study which we are going to do will deliver as much scietific data and by which we will project the importance of conserving the region or the habitat.As per IUCN the Grizzled giant squirrel is Near Threatened and Four horn antelope is Vulnerable.Currently we are striving to get funds for the extended project.If any one of you or your known wish to support our project for good cause then please contact Sanjeev kumar(project contact) at sanjeevkumarsr@gmail.com

Urigam - the proof of devastation

Despite pros and cons on what we are doing to this planet ,I at first as an ordinary mammal would like to express my feelings by posting this content. Before going further,I wish everybody to view this video Human as Virus and think about it.

Urigam: why urigam? and what does it mean to us?

Urigam is a riverside forest, comes under Hosur forest division, bordering Karnataka and Tamilnadu. The vegetation type is mostly dry deciduous, dry mixed deciduous, dry thorn and riverine. We have been working on conserving this region and other parts which comes under Melagiri hills. To know more about Melagiri and about our NGO, please visit Kenneth Anderson Nature society

The biotic pressure of humans not only in this region but also in other parts of Melagiri resulted in leaving the endemic species endangered or extinct. Some of them are tiger, leopard, grizzled giant squirrel, four horn antelope, chital, Slender Loris, Otter, etc… It is also highly affected by HEC (human elephant conflict) which is extreme and the casualties are frequently reported on either side. One main reason is due to fragmentation of forest by pockets of villages and blocking of elephant corridors. Most of the villagers are settlers migrated from other regions for labor and for other purposes during British period. I am sorry to say that Britishers are also one of the causes for this. They donated forest lands to them for agriculture as a credit for their plantation work and now they are ruining the place unaware of what the impact is going to be. As per my observation, this is how it started. Once they got lands inside the forest they are engaging the following activities.

1. Slowly expanded their land boundaries.


2. Purchased livestock and used the forest for fodder. Due to their intervention there was a decrease in the source of feeding for other habitat species leading them to die of hunger/forcibly migrate to other areas. The whole ecosystem disturbed, forced the dependent predators also to migrate to potential regions.


3. The cattle and goats were also doing their good in rapid spread of exotic species like lantana camara which prohibits the growth of other endemic flora species.


4. Once the villagers got access, and got familiar with the region, started exploiting the forest by deforestation and poaching.


5. Once the forest was cleared, it will be engulfed for economic development like real estate which is again a pressure from outsiders.

and that’s how the devastation to the wilderness happen successfully and continuing even today. This is almost like a chain reaction.

Now coming to this elephant calf which is now in vandalur zoo, you might wonder how it got related to this region. Yes it is named after the above explained region ‘Urigam’ from where he got identified.

The Tale of Urigam

One early morning I was woke up by a call from Saravanan, field researcher from ANCF.He told me that there is a sick elephant along with her calf and one sub adult female standing idle for days on the river bank.He also added that the sub adult female was defending the calf from the trespassers mostly fishermen who attempted to drive them away. Every few hours the female pachyderm went into the woods for feeding and turned back whenever it hears alarm call from the calf.The calf was active and tried to play with her mother.Since she didn’t respond, went to the sub adult, playing lonely and that’s how the days went on. I conveyed the information to DFO (district forest officer) and I went to the spot the next day. There I was shocked to see the mother elephant was dead.I felt sad since I was helpless to save her.The sub adult went missing, not sure about its fate. The calf was circling around his dead mother and I could see tears still running out of his eyes. First time in my life lively I saw the emotions of this amazing mammal. It was late evening, so forest officials were in rushing trying to get rid of the calf, but it went in vain. It was very weak and my attempts to feed it also failed.After a short discussion the forest officials at last decided to take him away from that place and settle it in the rehabilation center(vandalur zoo) at chennai.So they forcibly dragged him out from that spot. It took almost half an hour to move it for few yards. I felt emotional when I saw her screaming like a baby, refusing to move away from his dead mother.Once I myself felt why God has given these live forms to our planet, just to suffer? Why we are blind, failing to understand their feelings and not feeling guilty for making their life miserable?.Having such thoughts in my mind I helped others to drag this calf and at last we succeeded after some exhaustive efforts. The calf responded and we drove him towards the place where the carrier was waiting. There is a rivulet on the way running from cauvery river. When the calf got closer to it started drinking water by its mouth. We realized that it was exhausted and desperately needed energy.After energizing the calf, the forest officials took it to vandalur zoo where it is kept under captivity. I wish to do follow up. So I visited the vandalur zoo- rehabilitation center to know his condition. He is fine so far.Currently its diet includes mainly lactogen. I came to know that it was very weak and dehydrated for days, It ate sand,and it would have happened while drinking water.

To viewers

I will keep posting the progress of its growth and by your precious support or care, this calf will no longer be seen as an orphan and of course it will be healthy and can be taken back to the wilderness in future. His scream reverberates in my ears and disturbed my sleep for two days. Now I am happy that the officials from the zoo have given confidence on its survival rate.
The above are based on my observation in this region. My heart feels weakened when I see the lush green is perishing day by day.Of course we can’t give up everything and reverse the things in one day, but we can do one thing to balance the ecosystem. Instead of spreading like a virus, let’s limit our population by giving only one or max two births from each match. I am sure that it will lead to good rapport, love, etc. not only among the kin and kith but also among others of the society to maintain peace which we are longing for from this unpredictable world.