Don't blame animals, for it's we who invade their territories

One could argue that this is mostly a neo-urban culture that lacks empathy and appreciation of how it feels on the other side of things

A traveller had a narrow escape on National Highway (NH) 766, passing through Bandipur Tiger Reserve, when a wild elephant attacked him. The video of the elephant chasing him has gone viral.

Three persons were seen standing near a car parked near a bridge, while another entered the forest area. The elephant headed towards the car, and the trio boarded the vehicle and fled away. The elephant then charged towards the man who went inside the forest area.

This incident has yet again brought to the fore the irresponsible behaviour of the travellers, particularly while commuting through a protected forest area.

Stopping the vehicle midway, getting down and posing with wildlife while passing through a protected area unmindful of its consequences has become a norm. Sighting elephants along the highway passing through the Bandipur National Park seems to top the wishlist of such travellers.

People want to post on social media almost everything that they do, including pranks or petty violations. The urge to do so and the notional sense of doing something cool have often resulted in such behaviour. One could also argue that this is mostly a neo-urban culture that lacks empathy and appreciation of how it feels on the other side of things.

In the larger scheme of things, we humans have demarcated the territories for animals and confined them to what we have defined as protected areas — national parks, tiger reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, conservation reserves or state forests. Amidst these, we have our transportation networks, mostly roadways or railroads, passing through these protected areas.

The movement of vehicles is known to cause anxiety among animals, particularly the young ones. There are also instances of wildlife being injured severely or fatally due to the carelessness of drivers. Some animals may have gotten used to traffic in forests, but most will be prone to anxiety.

A study was carried out at the Sharavathi River basin of the Central Western Ghats in Karnataka on roadkills of frogs caused due to vehicular movement in different types of lands — forest, agriculture and waterbodies. It found that on average, there were 40 kills per kilometre across all categories.

There have been a few other similar studies carried out across the Western Ghats, with similar results.

The costs of such losses to biodiversity are unimaginable and, unfortunately, unaccounted for. However, in the event of threats to human life, property or vehicles, the blame is mostly on the wildlife, not on humans who have trespassed on their territory.

The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and subsequent amendments to it have laid out strict guidelines penalising such behaviour. However, the enforcement often poses challenges for the Forest Department. It is impossible for forest guards to keep patrolling the area, which could cause additional anxiety to the animals. Increasing surveillance inside forests is not going to help.

Instead, people travelling through such protected areas should be sensitised better, their entry-exit times should be kept under watch and stringent penalties must be levied on those violating the rules.

Nevertheless, there is no magic wand to get everyone to appreciate and be sensitive to wildlife. It will take a concerted effort by the civil society, activists, wildlife managers and policy-makers to bring about overall behavioural changes. Otherwise, there will be someday when rules will be bent mindlessly and the wildlife will be sacrificed for the sake of humans.

(The author is with Research Matters)

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