Story of Kusha and conservation challenges

A handsome 29-year-old tusker has been separated from his doting companion and restrained in heavy chains, his incessant tears and moaning making no impact on his captors. This is the story of Kusha, a wild elephant in the custody of Karnataka forest department, who is now all set to be released back to the forests, after a public outcry.

The jumbo was caught in Kodagu a few years ago, following complaints of him repeatedly raiding farm lands and destroying crops. However, last year he broke free from his shackles at the Dubare elephant camp where he was confined, and escaped into the wild in search of a mate. While it is common for tamed pachyderms to stray into the forest and return once their urges are satiated, Kusha, who found a beautiful partner decided to stay back.

The forest department launched a massive hunt and even succeeded in sighting him on a couple of occasions, but each time the tusker gave them the slip. By now, having been in the woods for over a year, he had forgotten the commands of his mahout who beseeched him to return, and to make matters worse, the female elephant frustrated every attempt to capture her partner.

Finally, in April, the department succeeded in separating the two and recapturing Kusha. The sobbing elephant has since been held in a kraal (a wooden enclosure) attracting the attention of environmentalists and animal lovers who have strongly condemned this cruelty. Now, following the intervention of Maneka Gandhi, MP, Karnataka Forest Minister Aravind Limbavali has ordered that he be radio-collared and released to his natural habitat, where hopefully, he will soon trace his lady love.

But the bigger question is why wild animals stray into human territory ever so often. The most convenient explanation is, encroachment of forest area, but that is not exactly the answer. With a healthy increase in the population of elephants which are concentrated in certain parts of the state, the forests have exceeded their ecological carrying capacity.

During summer, elephants abandon both the forests as well as their traditional corridors in search of food and water. And once accustomed to a diet of jackfruit and ragi which are available aplenty, they not only frequently visit farms and plantations, but also make them their home for extended periods, leading to conflicts with human beings.

The same holds good for tigers. Nagarahole forest, with a population of 125 tigers, which translates to a density of one tiger per about 12 sq km, is said to have reached its carrying capacity. Tigers normally need a territory of 20 km, which they fiercely defend. Thus, as the population increases, the older and weaker big cats are edged out of the forest, forcing them to take shelter and mark new territory in neighbouring estates or villages. Recently, a tiger had to be put down in Kodagu after it killed four people and several heads of cattle.

Many experts suggest that the only solution is to translocate these animals to less populated forests, but some others opine that tranquilising, transporting and introducing them to alien areas could cause immense trauma.

Considering how touchy the issue is, neither the government nor environmentalists are ready to bell the cat and often take the easy escape route by blaming encroachment of forests, without addressing the real problem. But what they fail to understand is that unless some rational decisions are taken, a situation will arise where, with conflicts increasing, people living in the periphery of forests will take the law into their own hands to protect themselves, thereby negating all the hard-earned gains of conservation.