Holocene Year 4 Issue 7-8-9 March to may 2019

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

1

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Year 4/Issue 07-08-09/March – May 2019 The Holocene is the geological epoch that began after the Pleistocene at approximately 11,700 years BP and continues to the present. As Earth warmed after the Ice Age, the human population increased and early man began to change the planet forever. For Exploring Nature, our newsletter Holocene is our platform to convey our concerns on human threat to biodiversity. We will use our newsletter as a media to highlight the current local and global issues which could impact biodiversity of Mother Nature and promote awareness of biodiversity in alignment with our group’s mission of promoting awareness of different aspects of Mother Nature among people.

In this newsletter our readers will get information and periodic updates on.  Recent significant discussions on biodiversity, going on across the world.  Major recent research and studies on biodiversity.  Biodiversity explorations planned and conducted by national and international groups as well as Exploring Nature.  Information and interesting readings on wildlife photography and biodiversity modelling etc.

Holocene Year 4/Issue 07-08-09/March - May 2019 © Exploring Nature Cover, Design and Illustration © Exploring Nature All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without proper prior permission in writing from Exploring Nature.

Editorial Board Team Exploring Nature Holocene Cover: Shivaram Subramanian Logo and Title Design Arijit Das Majumder and Saikat Chakraborty Website www.exploringnature.org.in e-mail info@exploringnature.org.in

2

Content:  Guest Editorial Bon Voyage….…On the occasion of 4th anniversary of Exploring Nature, the erstwhile Editor In Chief of Holocene, narrates the journey and purpose….

3|Page  Cover Story “The Bear Necessities” of WSOS by Exploring Nature The wildlife enthusiast community of the world are concerned about Tiger, but how about the “less glamorous” Sloth Bear?

10|Page  Story Room Imagining a Carbon Neutral Pune: Climate Action begins at Home by –Aditi Kale Aditi Kale has an academic background in biodiversity and is interested in ecology, evolution and biogeography. She is a freelance writer and currently working with Pune International Centre and also as a Coordinator for Climate Collective Pune.

21|Page  Exploration Camp Diary of a Highland Scout: (Part Six) by Arnab Basu …story of Scottish Highland continues 26|Page  Expert Speaks Strategies for Conservation in India by Baishali Bakshi 28|Page  Voice of Nature When Nature is in Focus… A complete coverage of a biodiversity and wildlife seminar in Bangalore.

30|Page  Updates from EN 35|Page  Theme-Poster Journey for Tiger....by Rakesh Kumar Biswas 41|Page Cover Photo by Ajay Kumar Debnath

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Guest Editorial: Bon Voyage….

By Erstwhile Chief Editor of Holocene, Anwesha Ghatak A Homo sapiens, living in a tropical suburb of a Third World nation, dreamt. He imagined freedom of Mother Earth and all her children; her rivers, marines, sand dunes, summits, woods, blossoms, mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians. It was his fascination, compulsion, obligation not to give in, but to rise up because he has a voice. Growing up, he had acquired certain degree of knowledge to understand that, Politics should abide by the laws of Nature, Science.

Dialectics of Nature (German: Dialektik der Natur), the unfinished 1883 work by Friedrich Engels that applies Marxist ideas – particularly those of dialectical materialism – to science, has greatly influenced his mind. On a heated day of May, he was travelling by the Indian Railways, the fourth-largest railway network in the world, with his confidante, when they felt compelled “Akta kichu kora dorkar” (We must act). Thus the inception of “Exploring Nature” and “Holocene”, and an urge to reach out above and beyond; the Central- Western Railway tracks from Bhopal to Junagadh was witness to the ascent of two ordinary men, aiming at extraordinary. And the expedition began.

It was the call of the hour, with human population exploding, encroaching all other species, destroying forest habitats. When the myopic Capitalism threw challenges every now and then to conservation efforts by “wise men”, Dwaipayan and Arnab, driven by their strong political motivation, joined the “Green Army”.

Dwaipayan, an engineer by profession, is a wildlife enthusiast by heart. After studying several courses from “Wildlife Campus-Game Ranging, Field Guiding, Game Lodge Management”, South Africa, he is a certified conservation devotee. Arnab has studied Environment Management from IISWBM and presently a Principal Consultant with ERM, a global sustainability consultancy firm. These two minds are a perfect combination of technical knowledge and passion. So the foundation of “Exploring Nature” was bound to occur. The motto was to start a coalition and connect with global citizens who foster well-being of natural elements. The movement commenced from diverse premises, virtual and real; “Exploring Nature” page and group in Facebook, where members can post relevant updates; monthly newsletter “Holocene” which would address conflicts and encourage sustainable co-habitation; but on top of these, there were promises of bona fide explorations to divergent bio-diversities.

Wanderlust, for the middle class in India, is expensive; so is Eco-tourism. But for the duo, journey to the jungles are lifeblood. Like an alluring bride in her veil, jungle enthralls the two men; they are captivated by the unseen.

Being a third wheel, I’ve been witness to their punctilious preparation that goes for months before an exploration, the emotions and anticipation; priceless.

Under the banner of “Exploring Nature”, some significant voyages are:  The Last Legacy – Wild Gujarat: Visit to the sole home of Asiatic lion and Indian Wild Ass;  Hiking in Highlands – Wild South: Visit to the Home of Asian Elephant and Bengal Tiger;  Exploring Nature in African Safari: 3 Days Explorations in Kruger National Park;  Tigers Terrain: Visit to the land of Tiger;  Panthers of Pali: Study on Human-Leopard Cohabitation in Hills near Jawai Dam;  In the Cave with Orangutan;  Wagh Aala Patil: TATR;  Scouting in Scotland: Tour Report of Hiking in Scottish Highland; and  Call of Corbett: In search of Man Eaters of Kumaon 3

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

I will throw some light on the latest from their long and impressive list of excursions; “Call of Corbett”.

Dwaipayan’s (Perhaps Arnab’s too) childhood memories are filled with stories of Edward James Corbett (Jim, as he was called affectionately). Corbett’s contribution to protect India’s wildlife from extermination and to establish a National Reserve for the endangered Bengal Tiger has been a driving force for the journey of “Exploring Nature”. "....far more pleasure is got from pressing the button of a camera than is ever got from pressing the trigger of a rifle....in one case the leopard can be watched for hours, and there is no more graceful and interesting animal in the jungle to watch....... in the other case a fleeting glimpse.... the acquisition of the trophy which soon loses both its beauty and its interest" – the philosophy of Jim Corbett, from “The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag”, resonates with the credence of “Exploring Nature”.

So two childhood friends vanquished all the challenges life threw at them and embarked on a trail that will lead them to new discoveries. And the reward is virtuous, a deeper understanding and respect for the species those are extant; melancholy for the departed souls from epochs bygone and unraveling secrets to survival. Along the way came Vrushabh Borkar, an ardent student of Bio-Sciences and a butterfly lover, from a village called Arjuni in Maharastra; and our very own snake-rescuer and “charmer” Koushik Mondal, standing guard in the North Bengal corridors. And then there’s Sankar Da (Sankar Singha), an outlander and our “Captain Nemo”, steering “Exploring Nature” through high and low tides. His mastery in the studies of butterflies is boundless, among other things.

Then there is you, me and us, 5180 inquisitive members till date (and counting), who have been part of the “Curious Case of Exploring Nature”; together let’s make this “Holocene” livable and lovable.

Exploring Nature: The journey so far May, 2015: On World Biodiversity day, the journey started from Bhopal: The last legacy: Being nature lovers and students of Natural Science for more than two decades, the members of Exploring Nature decided to pay tribute to Mother Nature by promoting awareness on some of the well explored as well as relatively less explored biodiversity around the world. In this endeavour two members of Exploring Nature have started this Biodiversity Exploration Series by carrying out a high level rapid biodiversity exploration at Gir National Forest and Little Rann of Kutch located in the Gujarat state of India. Both the places are unique for being holders of single population of Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica) and Indian Wild Ass (Equus hemionus khur) respectively.



22nd



1st June, 2015: Exploring Nature started telling stories from their exploration experiences…. last legacy of wild Gujarat...story of two explorers returned home after an expedition, started being published in public domain...the objective was promoting awareness on some of the well explored as well as relatively less explored biodiversity.....for the 1st exploration, it was a five day visit and 1100 photographs of 56 mammals, reptiles and avian species were taken by two explorers.....out of that 70 high impact snaps were used to tell a fascinating story in a 40 page report.......



16th August, 2015: Exploring Nature released its 5 year draft Forest Voyage plan starting from Gujarat and ending at Borneo.



26th August, 2015: Final Complete logo of Exploring Nature was released, designed by Saikat Chakraborty and Dwaipayan Ghosh.

4

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019



2nd September, 2015: Exploring Nature announced the name of its official Monthly Newsletter "HOLOCENE" the logo of HOLOCENE is exclusively designed by Saikat Chakraborty......Title and cover of “Holocene” was also released, based on original drawing of Saikat Chakraborty .



16th September, 2015: Exploring Nature launched their website www.exploringnature.org.in on the occasion of International Ozone Layer day. The website has sections on Forest Voyage, Wild Craft, Shoot Only Photographs, Holocene, and Voice for Nature and Cohabitation. On the same day, 1st issue of monthly newsletter of the group “Holocene” was also published based on the theme of international ozone layer day. 1st story in the “story room” section was a mythopuscule (a fusion of fiction and non-fiction) written by Arnab Basu , titled as – Adipoli Keralam. The first theme poster was “Cohabitation”, based on sketch of Saikat Chakraborty .



10th October, 2015: Release of final initial of Exploring Nature’s logo.



29th November, 2015: Four Cameras.....Two Childhood Friends.....And One Mission.....HIKING in HIGHLANDS...29th November to 7th December. Exploring Nature’s biggest exploration of 2015 Exploration Series – II – “Hiking in Highlands – Wild South West- Visit to Nagarhole National Park, Bandipur National Park and Periyar Tiger Reserve”.



20th December, 2015: Exploring Nature announced biggest exploration of 2016 - Exploration Series – IV “Tigers' Terrain - Jungle Book Reopened – Satpura, Pench and Kanha, Madhya Pradesh.



26th December, 2015: One night, one day at Charming Coorg.... and a pristine Home Stay at Kaimane, South Kodagu...... to know about land of Kodavas and life of Jenu Kuruba tribe outside forest and as coffee estate workers....Exploring Nature, with the help of a Kodava family at Coorg, interviewed Jenu Kuruba tribes.



27th December, 2015: After CNN-IBN, WWF and sanctuary Asia, now it was Exploring Nature's turn.

Legendary K. M. Chinnappa was interviewed at 14:30hrs at his South Kodagu district residence. A leap towards future....the legend spoke about tribal issues, eco-tourism, and poaching and conservation education.



14th January, 2016: Official T-Shirt for Exploring Nature's Exploration Series - III, "Tigers' Terrain - Jungle Book Reopened" was released.



31st January, 2016: Exploring Nature participated in a two day photography workshop conducted by eminent wildlife photographer Kalyan Verma at Bangalore on 30th and 31st January, 2016...... it was learning from Master......and Back to Basics......the key features of the Day One of Photography Workshop were.......Core Technical Photography, Concept of Composition, Gears and Equipment, and Camera Maintenance......and the Day Two was on Field Assignment....and Digital Basic and Photo processing....the Master says...."Don't click photos, make them", "A camera is not a license to be a jerk"



14th February, 2016: This Valentine's Day....fall in love with Nature, Wildlife and African Big 5........Exploring Nature in African Safari...3 day-3 night at Kruger National Park......

5

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

14th to 16th February 2016.... After the successful completion of the biggest exploration of the year 2015 – Exploration Series – II – “Hiking in Highlands – Wild South West- Visit to Nagarhole National Park, Bandipur National Park and Periyar Tiger Reserve”, Exploring Nature planned to extend the scope of exploration beyond Indian subcontinent. Therefore, the team Exploring Nature launched 1st series of African Safari Exploration Series – III – “African Safari – Sub Series I – Kruger National Park”. 

16th February, 2016: 1st Half yearly issue of Holocene published on 16th February'16. Theme of the issue was conflicts and cohabitation - effect of human conflicts on environment, Human Wildlife conflicts, Life of forest dwellers, Experts opinions, etc.



23rd March, 2016: Punarjani: An Endeavour for Nature Reclamation.........Explorer Arnab Basu visited Alakode, Kerala again to rediscover his love for the state and covered a wonderful story of nature worship by few white-collar professionals….



6th April, 2016: The face book group of Exploring Nature achieved 1000 members. Exploring Nature congratulated all members on being 1K and wished a great success in future in making the world a better place to live...



17th April, 2016: The Polar Biodiversity Model released. 4th biodiversity model of the group and 1st after launching the group. The model is made out of paper pillows, waste card boards, plaster of paris etc.

The model contains Snowy Mountain, glaciers, sea and 7 polar species.



21st April, 2016: Release of first merchandise of Exploring Nature: Bangalore based NGO Samarthana helped Exploring Nature in design and development of merchandise made out of recycled waste materials. Total 150 merchandise were ordered and distributed among underprivileged children, participating in environmental education workshop of 23rd April at Bangalore. Also gifted to friends and supporters of Exploring Nature.



23rd April, 2016: It's not a Charity...It's our Responsibility... : Team Exploring Nature Participated and covered the day long workshop on Environment Conservation and Waste Management in Bengaluru organised by ERM and Friends. 14 sustainability enthusiasts and consultants of ERM and their friends conducted a three hours workshop based on the theme of waste management with 80 children of BOSCO Bangalore on 23rd April, 2016 at Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain Park. Exploring Nature was publicity partner of the workshop.



8th to 13th May, 2016: Completed field exploration of Tigers' Terrain.... 68 birds, 18 mammals, 4 reptiles and one amphibian identified........



16th May, 2016: 1st Anniversary Issue of Holocene..... The Tiger Special issue was published on 16th May.....



23rd May, 2016: Exploring Nature completed one year…..Next Full length Exploration was decided to be themed again on Bengal Tiger..... After Karnataka, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, this time it would be Maharashtra.... "Wagh alaa Patil..."... the draft Travel Itinerary of Exploration Series - VII of Exploring Nature, "Wagh Alaa Patil...." at Tadoba Andheri Tiger Reserve… was announced.

6

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019



11th June, 2016: The Jungle Book is still open..... Explorer Dwaipayan Ghosh went for Baghira again.....

But this time not in Jungle but in Open lands of Aravalli range...... "Panthers of Pali" in July 2016....Exploration Series - V - Panthers of Pali…was launched



8th to 10th July, 2016: The Leopard Man, Thakur Devi Singh Ranawat, Thakur Saheb of Bera, blood line of Maharana Pratap, has been observing leopards of Bera for last 20 years. Explorer Dwaipayan Ghosh was "His Majesty's Guest" while watching Panthers of Pali......exploration series V.



14th July, 2016: The Jungle Book is still open.... Explorer Arnab Basu would be in search of King Lui in Sumatran jungles in October this year....Explorer Arnab Basu would be going to spend time with Sumatran Orangutan... Exploration Series -VI "In the cave with Orangutan" was launched.



25th July, 2016: The face book group of Exploring Nature reached 2000 members.



25th to 27th October, 2016 : Explorer Arnab Basu was in Geunung Leuser National Park, North Sumatra, Indonesia……finished his exploration successfully by spotting critically endangered Sumatran orangutans….18 other species spotted



4th December, 2016 : Official T-shirt of Exploration VII…Waagh Alaa Patil was released.



10th and 11th December, 2016: First Annual Meeting of Exploring Nature happened at Bangalore, key decisions taken were, 3 years project to be conducted on Complete study of Human-Big Cat Cohabitation and Conflicts; At least one exploration by each members to be done in every year; Distribution of Organizational Responsibility was freezed; decision of registering exploring nature as per Society Registration act was agreed upon.



24th December, 2016 : Polar Biodiversity Model workshop at BOSCO Rainbow, Bangalore with ERM Foundation representative Pooja Uthappa; Significance and conservation of polar biodiversity was discussed, around 20 girl children of BOSCO participated in that workshop.



29th December, 2016: The Face Book group of Exploring Nature crossed 3000 members mark.



1st January, 2017: On the first day of New Year the “Shoot Photographs Leave Footprints” section of Exploring Nature’s website and face book page was renamed as “Camera Stylo” for technical reasons.



14th to 20th January, 2017: “Wagh Alaa Patil” Exploration series VII of Exploring Nature happened at Kolara and Mahurli zones of Tadoba Andhari Tiger reserve, Maharashtra.



20th January, 2017: Next exploration “Call of Corbett” to search man eater of kumaon was announced.

Scheduled on 18th April, 2018 at Jim Corbett National Part, Uttaranchal.



3rd to 5th March, 2017: “It’s Bear Necessities” Exploration series VIII Part One of Exploring Nature happened at Palkot Wildlife Sanctuary, Gumla, Jharkhand.



12th March, 2017: Exploring Nature launched its 1st Biodiversity project “It’s Bear Necessities” to study Indian sloth bear behaviour, habitat, threats and also its significance in Indian mythology.

7

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019



25th to 26th March, 2017: Second visit for the project “It’s Bear Necessities” happened on 25th and 26th March at Palkot Wildlife Sanctuary, Gumla, Jharkhand.



3rd April, 2017: The Face Book group of Exploring Nature crossed 3500 members mark.



10th April, 2017: Work on 5th Biodiversity Model of Wild Craft division of Exploring Nature – Livestock biodiversity started.



7th May, 2017: Third visit for the project “It’s Bear Necessities” – this time it’s in Ranchi – Birsa Munda Deer Park and Rescue Centre.



15th June 2017: MoU signed with Natures’ Lovers Club of Kolkata to form One Earth and One Chance



29th July 2017: Then Editor in Chief of Holocene, Anwesha Ghatak interviewed Sadhina, The Lady– Liberated, who calls herself a “Free–Spirit”. Sadhina Abeysuriya, a "Nemophilist", Wildlife Photographer and an Avid Traveller from Sri Lanka!!



18th August 2017: Exploring Nature, interviewed Dr. Arun Venkataraman. A Technical Director and Biodiversity scientist at ERM India, with over 30 years’ experience working for academic and conservation organizations and the private sector. He talked about elephant killing and elephant corridor issues of India.



24th September 2017: Then Editor in Chief of Holocene and General Secretary of Exploring Nature participated in Bird Watching event with Hyderabad Birding Pals at Hyderabad.



7th to 14th October, 2017: Exploration Series IX: Scouting in Scotland: An Exploration in Scottish Highland – Cairngorm National Park, Scotland.



16th October, 2017: Holocene has gone global - Read in 22 Countries across the Globe..... Holocene, the monthly E-Newsletter of Exploring Nature



14th January, 2018: Exploring Nature global memberships crossed 5000 mark



14th to 20th April, 2018: Exploration Series 10 – Call of Corbett : in Corbett National Park



19th to 20th August, 2018: Exploration Series 8, part B, Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary



24th August, 2018: Extended some financial assistance to Chief Minister’s distress relief fund, Kerala. To help flood affected people of the state.



7th September, 2018 : Launched social media campaigning of “Journey for Tiger”



7th to 9th September, 2018: Exploring Nature participated in Nature in Focus 2018 festival in Bangalore.

8

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019



4th November, 2018: Visited Bannerghatta National Park and Rescue centre to interact with volunteers of WSOS who are involved in rescuing sloth bear. This was part of project Bear Necessities.



11th November 2018: Interview of Dr. Arun S Sha, Director and veterinary expert of WSOS, BBRC, Bangalore, as part of Project “Bear Necessities” of Exploring Nature.



15th to 17th November 2018: Rathin Das and his team launched a protest to save tiger habitats, in support of Exploring Nature and few other organizations. The protest “Demanding Safe Tiger Habitat” started on 16th November, 2018 at Sundarban National Park of West Bengal..... Team Exploring Nature express solidarity with Rathin Das and team... Team Started from Godkhali.... Interacted with people of Sundarbans and spread awareness among them..... Rathin das was on a fast for 60 hours demanding a safe tiger habitat in India as well as globally.....



18th November, 2018: “WAR18” in Kolkata, organized by “ANUBHAB Expedition for Better Tomorrow” the Rally began (a wildlife awareness rally) from Ashutosh College to Deshapriya Park at 10:30am.

Students, Activists, Wildlife enthusiasts and famous intellectuals and celebrities of the city participated in that rally. Team Rathin Das and Exploring Nature was also there to mark their presence and support for the initiatives.



23rd December to 26th December, 2018: Annual meeting of Exploring Nature Executive committee at Guwahati, Bali Para, followed by a short day bush walk at Nameri National Park



15th to 19th February, 2019: Exploring Nature become official communication partner for “Journey for Tiger” and the journey commenced formally from West Bengal. General Secretary and founder of Exploring Nature, Dwaipayan Ghosh, flagged off the journey.

9

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Cover Story: “The Bear Necessities” of WSOS

By Exploring Nature The Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre is established and managed by an NGO named Wildlife SOS India.

Recently, on behalf of Exploring Nature we visited this centre couple of times to get an insight of Bear Necessities.

Wildlife SOS was established in 1995 by a small group of individuals inspired to start a movement and make lasting change to protect and conserve India’s natural heritage, forest and wildlife wealth. Today, the organisation has evolved to actively work towards protecting Indian wildlife, conserving habitat, studying biodiversity, conducting research and creating alternative and sustainable livelihoods for erstwhile poacher communities or those communities that depend on wildlife for sustenance.

Kartick Satyanarayan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Wildlife SOS. He is a Member of the IUCN Bear Specialist Group (Sloth Bear Team Expert), the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, the State Wildlife Advisory Board of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, the State Wildlife Advisory Board of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, the Central Zoo Authority’s Captive Elephant Evaluation Committee and the Executive Board of Friendicoes – SECA in New Delhi, India. He is a former Member of the Government of India’s Central Zoo Authority (2007– 2013) and an Honorary Wildlife Warden of the Government of NCT Delhi. His lifelong love of animals has translated into 23 years of unflinching dedication and service to wildlife conservation and welfare, environmental protection and the vision of a modern India where man and animal coexist respectfully and in peace together.

The other founder of WSOS is Geeta Seshamani. She is the acting Senior Wildlife Conservationist, Cofounding Director, and Secretary of Wildlife SOS. Established in 1995 with Cofounder Mr. Kartik Satyanarayan and based in New Delhi, the organization has an objective of protecting India’s environmental and wildlife resources from unsustainable exploitation. She is recognized by and affiliated with the Animal Welfare Board of India. Winner of the inaugural Planman Media Award for Environmental Activism (2009), the Karamveer Puraskar Award, Limca’s “People of the Year” Award, the prestigious “Pehal Award” by Zee News and two-time winner of The Elisabeth Lewyt Award for Disaster Management and Planning and lauded guest speaker at innumerable engagements, Mrs. Seshamani is a tireless animal rights activist demonstrating lifelong devotion to the protection and well-being of all living things.

Rescued bear on enrichment structure at BBRC

To battle the rampant and horrendous practice of “Dancing” Bear, Wildlife SOS with its mission to conserve and rehabilitate the Sloth Bears in captivity saw the absolute need to instigate a Rescue Centre for the Sloth Bears and also ensure rehabilitation for the “Kalandars”, a community that practiced Bear Dancing in South India. With this focused thought the Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre was born through its agreement with Karnataka Forest Department and Zoo 10

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Authority of Karnataka which was signed on 28th of November 2005. Since then, the Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre has been instrumental in rescuing and providing a life-time care for over a hundred Sloth Bears rescued from the Dancing Bear trade, poaching, ill-kept zoos and Human-Bear conflict situations. With additional retiring dens built and the much required renovations made to the existing dens, the Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre currently holds approx. 80 rescued Sloth Bears amidst the lush greens and rocks of the dry-deciduous Bannerghatta Biological Park, making it the world’s second largest rescue center for the Sloth Bears. A perfect home for the rescued sloth bears to spend the rest of their lives away from the trauma and tortures they had to endure during dancing on the streets.

During our visit, we interacted with Mr. Chiranjib Mazumdar, volunteer programme officer of WSOS, Mr. Lenu, Documentation Officer, Photographer, and Dr. Nithin, Resident Veterinary Surgeon of WSOS. As per Dr. Nithin, the centre has been developed on a land of approximately 70 acres, given by Forest department. Except, the land all infrastructure and facilities are arranged by WSOS by their own capacity and primarily through fund raising.

Currently there are 77 rescued sloth bears in this centre. 25 staffs including three vets manage the centre. Dr. Arun. A Sha is the chief vet and director of the centre. The centre has total five enclosures, office building, staff quarters, kitchen for cooking food for bears, bears’ play and socializing area, and one state of the art operation theatre for bears and other rescued animals, including leopards, and reptiles.

The bears here have a healthy and nutritious diet thrice a day which includes porridge, honey and large quantities of fruits with additional supplements for proteins, vitamins and calcium. To ensure they burn enough calories, the keepers at the Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre build and develop many enrichment structures for the bears to play and learn the ways of the wild. The Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre also houses a well-equipped Veterinary Clinic and a team of experienced veterinary doctors to ensure round-the-clock care and monitoring of these rescued animals.

The Wildlife SOS Bear Rescue Project and Kalandar Rehabilitation Programme is supported by international partners- International Animal Rescue, Free the Bears- Australia, One Voice Association- France and Humane Society International- Australia.

History of Bear Rescue: The Indian Sloth Bear (Melursus Ursinus) can easily be recognized by his shaggy black coat, long muzzle, protruding lip and by a white V-shaped patch on the chest. His diet consists of fruits, berries, grasses, flowers, honey, insect larvae and other insects. He has a particular proclivity to “vacuum” up termites and ants using his long snout.

11

A wild bear in Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

For over 400 years, the Sloth Bear had been a target for human exploitation. A nomadic tribe known as the Kalandars began ‘dancing’ sloth bears for the emperors during the Mughal era. Over centuries, as the kingdoms in India disappeared, the ‘dancing’ bear trade transitioned to become entertainment for villagers and tourists who paid to watch the bears jump in agony.

Mother bears were killed so that poachers could take and sell their cubs in perpetuation of this brutal practice.

Through underground trading the cubs as many as 200 annually would end up in the hands of the Kalandars.

With no anesthesia, a red hot poker rod would be driven through the muzzle of the baby bear, often at the tender age of six months. A rope would then be strung through the painful piercing, and tugged to induce ‘dancing’ performances on demand; for many bears a life at the end of a rope would be all they would ever know.

As of 1996, WSOS research indicated that there were more than 1200 ‘dancing’ bears scattered throughout the country. With cooperation from Government officials, and the help of their partner organizations International Animal Rescue, One Voice, Free The Bears, and others Wildlife SOS has been able to rescue and rehabilitate over 620 dancing bears. They are now living peacefully in four large natural sanctuaries across India, enjoying a life where they will never again have to endure such cruelty and pain.

As per WSOS, in December 2009 they rescued what they believe was the last ‘dancing’ bear in India. Now, WSOS claim that there are no dancing bears in this country. On 18th December 2009 at Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre near Bangalore, his owner surrendered one of the last dancing bears in India to Wildlife SOS. The rope that kept Raju the bear captive as a ‘dancing bear’ for nearly three years was removed, and he started on his way to a new life. Likewise, his owner Raje Saab was given a rehabilitation package which will allow him to earn a better living for his family, and will ensure that his children are educated. Typically WSOS rehabilitation package for a Kalandar bear owner would be either a monetary compensation (depending upon livelihood and alternative sources of income they are looking for) or an employment in any of the four rescue centres of WSOS as bear keepers. Currently they have four rescue centres, the main centre is in Agra, second largest is in Bannerghatta and then in Van Vihar National Park, Bhopal and the fourth one is in Purulia district of West Bengal.

During interaction with Dr. Nithin, it was revealed that when the rescue operation of sloth bears were at peak, Government decided to arrest all the Kalandar bear owners and put them behind bar in charge of violation of Wildlife Protection Act. That time there was no programme of rehabilitating this nomad tribe. “Dancing Bear” was the only skill they have and inherited from their ancestors for last 400 years. Reportedly, one dancing bear could make them earning as much as Rs. 30,000/- per month.

As part of their rehabilitation programme, Wildlife SOS supports the education of over 1,360 Kalandar children.

They assist with school admissions, paying fees and providing books, stationary, uniforms and schoolbags to equip these children to follow their dreams and avail the opportunities life has to offer them. Their efforts have supported children from all ages and more than 50% of Kalandar students under the project are girls. WSOS conducted a study to assess the needs of the Kalandar tribe and to survey their preferences for alternative employment. To date, over six hundred Kalandar men have opted to voluntarily surrender their bears and claim the Wildlife SOS rehab package About Dancing Bear: Dancing bears in India are sloth bears that have been poached from the wild as tiny cubs, often by killing their mother. Sloth bears are listed on Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species 12

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

(CITES) and all international trade in them is prohibited. As well as being poached for the dancing bear trade, bear parts are thought to have healing properties and bears are highly prized for use in traditional medicines.

Sloth Bear cubs are stolen from the forests, the mother bears often killed as the week old cubs are snatched away and sold to kalandars for less than Rs. 1500. The kalandars then train the bear cubs using cruel techniques to force the bear to perform and dance. Its claws are ripped out and its teeth broken off with an iron bar to make it easier to control. Worst of all, a red hot poker is pushed up through the bear’s snout and out through the delicate muzzle and nose. A rough rope is threaded through the open wound.

When the handler jerks the rope upwards, the bear stands on its hind legs to escape the pain. As a cub the bear is also forced to stand on red hot coals and soon learns to hop from one foot to another, making it look as though it is dancing.

Once rescued and taken into one of the sanctuaries, former dancing bears receive specialist veterinary care, enjoy a healthy diet and live with companions in large, forested enclosures. Over time they become healthier and happier. However, the rescued bears can never be returned to the wild because they have not learnt the techniques of survival from their mothers, also the absence of teeth and claws handicap them severely. Last of all they have been imprinted by human beings and have become accustomed to, and reliant on, humans for food. Such bears cannot survive in the wild on their own.

Not so long ago dancing bears were a common sight in well-touristy areas of India, notably along the highway between Delhi and Agra, home of the Taj Mahal . . . Now they are a thing of the past!

A daily life in Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre: A dedicated and committed team of Bear rescuers of WSOS start their day as early as at 8:00 AM. The daily schedule includes cleaning of enclosures, medical inspection of bears, cooking of porridge, distribution of porridge for bears, group work to make hammock and other socializing tools for bears etc.

Kitchen staff started their cooking activities at 4:00 AM in dedicated bear kitchen. Keepers of the centre keep the enclosures clean, feed bears, constantly monitor them, and ensure bears are active during daytime. All the keepers are from Kalandar community and in many cases; they are the owners of the rescued bears. Therefore, there is none better than them who understand bear behaviour.

Bear Feeding: Typical feeding behaviour of sloth bear is they feed on termites (white ants) by digging up the nest, blowing off the dirt and dust, then sucking up the insects in a "vacuum cleaner" fashion. This is noisy (audible at 185 m or more). Sloth bears are omnivorous and opportunistic feeders, eating whatever is available in a particular season. It often climbs trees to eat flowers, fruits and seeds, which are available year-round, even when ground 13

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

cover is greatly diminished in the dry months due to livestock overgrazing. Observations on sloth bears in different research activities found that they broke open mounds to feed on termites, ate ants from branches, broke open honey combs, and fed from animal carcasses; they also ate fallen fruits and dug for roots and tubers.

However, these all are feeding behaviour of the animals in wild. The rescued sloth behaviours have different challenge, as their canines were broken during captivity, which results into open wounds in their mouth and generation of pus inside mouth. Their Kalandar owners broke their canine without any anaesthesia, so that the bears are unable to bite them as a selfdefence mechanism. Which restricts them from eating hard foods. Also because of prolonged captivity and separation from their parents since they were cub – these rescued sloth bears are not trained in searching food by themselves.

Bear kitchen at BBRC

In addition, during their captivity their owners fed them meagrely. As told by Dr. Nithin and Chiranjib, sometime just one Parle G biscuit in one whole day. Therefore most of the bears rescued by WSOS, were not just injured also significantly mal nourished.

Therefore, one of the key tasks of WSOS kitchen staff is cooking food with right kind of nutrition under the guidance of resident veterinary surgeons. As told by Dr. Nithin, they feed bears thrice in a day. Morning porridge made of jawar and evening with raagi. The porridge is served with milk, egg, and vegetables. 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM are the morning and evening bear feeding time, which happens under the supervision of vet.

Every bear has their own feeding register, where their attendance for feeding is marked by the keepers. In addition to that, keepers also scatter vegetables, fruits (mainly watermelons, dates) and honey in different places, to make them search for the food and get back their natural behaviour back.

The fuel used in Bear Kitchen of BBRC is bagasse which is a sustainable and green fuel and more cost effective as well safer than LPG cylinders.

In WSOS rescue centre they also make termite towers, and make Termite tower preparation the bears dig to find termites and eat. Sloth bears in wild are expert hunters of termites, which they locate by smell. On arriving at a mound, they scrape at the structure with their claws till they reach the large combs at the bottom of the galleries, and disperse the soil with violent puffs. The termites are then sucked up through the muzzle, producing a sucking sound which can be heard 180 m away.

Unfortunately, the muzzles of all the rescued bears are damaged as hot iron rod was poked through it and rings were attached there in order to make them dance in agony, during their captivity. Therefore, these bears are of course not that expert in digging and searching termites without human intervention.

14

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Bear Health: Health issues of rescued Bear from captivity are the biggest and neverending challenges for any bear rescue centres. That is why there is always a resident vet available for 24 hours in 365 days. Every bear goes through mandatory medical test in every 6-8 months and there is separate medical record register for each bear, maintained at the clinic, which gives all the details of different medical parameters and body weight of them. Most of the rescued bears are received in severely injured condition, therefore immediately after transferring to BBRC, the vets in the centre get into actions, and that continues forever. First, the bears are given a clinical examination by the WSOS team of vets and after which bears are vaccinated and provided with urgently needed treatment or even surgery.

One of the three vets of BBRC is Dr. Nithin who enlightened us on many health related issues of rescued sloth bear. According to him, the most alarming issue is of course the stereotypical behaviour during captivity.

38 general medical parameters Stereotypical behaviours are thought to be caused ultimately by artificial for sloth bear environments that do not allow animals to satisfy their normal behavioural needs. Rather than refer to the behaviour as abnormal, it has been suggested that it be described as "behaviour indicative of an abnormal environment�. Examples of stereotypical behaviours include pacing, rocking, swimming in circles, excessive sleeping, self-mutilation (including feather picking and excessive grooming), and mouthing cage bars. A typical stereotypical behaviour noticed at BBRC was swinging heads in circular motion in repeated fashion by sloth bears.

Stereotypical behaviour can sometimes be reduced or eliminated by environmental enrichment, including larger and more stimulating enclosures, training, and introductions of stimuli (such as objects, sounds, or scents) to the animal's environment. The enrichment must be varied to remain effective for any length of time. Housing social animals such as primates with other members of their species is also helpful. But once the behaviour is established, it is sometimes impossible to eliminate due to alterations in the brain. WSOS has created many such enrichment structures within BBRC for this purpose. Also letting they find food and dig termites are part of this.

Veterinary Clinic at BBRC

Other critical health issues are lung Tuberculosis and infection in mouth.

Dr. Nithin told us that bears get TB from their Kalandar owners; however, it does not infect other bears or human. Dr. Nithin told us treatment of TB was a challenge initially, as bears refused to take tablets, even if those were mixed with foods or honey. Now WSOS has started making syrup out of these tablets, which bears are taking. The result of treatment has been phenomenal, as number of mortality rates has decreased significantly. In last ten years, only two bears died whereas initially it used to be on an average 10 per year.

Preserved TB infected lungs and heart at BBRC lab 15

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Dental problem is another critical health issue for the rescued bear. As their canine was taken out during captivity, that led to root canal infection for most of the bears. The veterinary clinic at BBRC has one of the most equipped dental surgery unit, where RCT were carried out for many sloth bears.

AT BBRC, vets also carry out extensive research on diseases like tuberculosis and leptospirosis, which helps them sharing knowledge on these issues with scientists and bear experts across the world.

Sloth Bear Poaching: An estimated $8 to $10 billion is generated annually by wildlife trafficking and illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products. The scale of these crimes on the black market is second only to narcotics.

Even with minimal demand for ‘dancing’ bears, Sloth Bear cubs are still being poached for use in Chinese medicines and gourmet cuisine in South-East Asia. The male bears are poached for their reproductive organs and gall bladders which are key ingredients in aphrodisiacs. This ongoing poaching, combined with habitat encroachment, continues to pose a serious threat to an already depleting population in the Indian SubContinent. Wildlife SOS has in the last decade successfully carried out many rescue operations in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, where these bears are often found injured in snare traps or with bullet shots by poachers.

Dr. Nithin told us there is a belief that gallbladder of sloth bear has medicinal value. That reminded us a similar story, during another visit in March, 2017 at Palkot Wildlife Sanctuary and surroundings, within the district of Gumla and Simdega of Jharkhand state. A forest department tracker informed that a male bear was killed and his genital was chopped off with same belief.

Dr. Nithin’s inference on this story of Palkot was that the bone of the penis of sloth bear could be the reason.

Again, none of these has any scientific basis to believe that body parts of sloth bear have medicinal values.

In 2016, Wildlife SOS rescued a sloth bear from a gully in Ramanagara, on the outskirts of the Bangalore city of Karnataka, after it was found in a critical condition with internal injuries. The bear was found with huge internal injuries to its mouth, neck and head. "Based on X-rays I can see multiple fractures in both lower and upper jaws, travelling all the way to the skull," Wildlife SOS veterinarian director Dr Arun A Sha, Director of WSOS, BBRC said in a statement provided to media. Together with the forest department, a four-man team from Wildlife SOS tranquilised the bear, before carrying it to a waiting cage and taking it to urgent care. The animal rescue group said "bleeding profusely and barely able to move, the bear could have passed off as dead had it not been for its agonised whimpering". Wildlife SOS co-founder Kartick Satyanarayan said to media that the "crude" explosives method was often used by poachers to kill wild boars and other game, but now bears were being targeted. "These crude, locally made bombs are concealed inside food baits and curious wild animals are tricked into biting into them," he said. "The result is often devastating and causes the head or mouth parts to explode, leaving the animal to die a slow and very painful death while waiting for the poachers to retrieve their prize. This is illegal under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and of convicted the poachers could be punished with a jail sentence of between three to seven years."

16

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Sloth bears are among four of Asia's five bear species banned from international commercial trade under Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

To understand the Sloth Bear conservation situation in India, further, representative of Exploring Nature met WSOS Veterinarian and Research Director Dr. Arun A. Sha, in WSOS centre in Banerghatta Rescure Centre and National Park, Bangalore. Dr. Sha is the “bear man” of India who has 15 years of experience in working with sloth bears, worked with more than 400 sloth bears and tranquilized more than 2000 sloth bears in different forests of India.

In a one and half an hour discussion session, Dr. Sha, enlightened us, on many aspects pertaining to bear conservation issues of India. He repeatedly emphasized on need of more research work on sloth bears, adopting scientific approach in conservation and health management as well as encouraging participatory approach through joining hands of important stakeholders like Wild Life Institute of India, Forest departments and organizations like WSOS. The detailed conversation between Dr. Sha and Exploring Nature is given below: Exploring Nature: What do you think are the key challenges in Sloth Bear conservation in India? We had The National Bear Conservation and Welfare Action Plan-2012, which was released on November 2012. Now it is almost 6 years since the plan was released. Still Bear conservation is not really in lime light of country’s wildlife conservation activities. What is your opinion on this?

Dr. Arun A Sha: To be frank after 2012, not much happened with respect to The National Bear Conservation and Welfare Action Plan, except several on-going projects by several organizations, including WSOS. We started two projects on ecology of Sloth Bear and Black bear in two conservation centres of WSOS in Dachigham and Pehalgam in Jammu and Kashmir. We do extensive awareness programme to eradicate conflict situations. In Jammu and Kashmir, there are lot of apple industries, and Black Bears are dependent on second and third grade apples fallen on ground. But nowadays, the apple industries started picking up fallen apples as well, which practically left no food for bears and that is increasing the conflict. So, we need to increases awareness to deal with this situation and lot of ongoing work is going on with Schools, Colleges and Corporates in this front, as it’s an ongoing process, we have to keep pushing people to learn to co-exist with these species.

The other good initiative of WSOS was organizing the first IUCN meet on Sloth Bear conservation in March, 2018. There we extensively discussed Bear conservation aspects in different states in India, as we know the bear species is spread across 26 states of the country starting from north east to down south, and Sloth Bear comprises around 50% of total bear population in India.

So, if we put together all these, we need some kind of action plan and we need to put all the scientific groups together to make sure that everyone take some responsibility and start doing activities in scientific manner. The data with the forest department, pertaining to bears, are unfortunately not so scientific. From disease perspective I have no clue, what are the main threats for sloth bears in wild.

The National Bear Conservation and Welfare Action Plan-2012, was very nicely made and I appreciate many stakeholders including forest departments made contributions to frame the policy, but in reality the execution was bit slow. It was announced in 2012 and now it’s almost six years and review of the plan is pending.

17

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Counting of bears and the data related to number of bears in wild, available with forest department, is also not so scientific.

From that point of view, I would say, WSOS has started two projects in Karnataka and Chattisgarh on ecology of sloth bears and we are going to radio collar the bears, to understand their natural habitat, identifying conflict situations and mitigate measures. This will help in deriving some scientific way of numbering bears in wild and also to establish their ranging patterns.

When I am talking about of challenges of sloth bear conservation in India, one of the key issues is disbursing ex gratia compensation to affected family; it doesn’t happen in a way it happens in case of conflict with Tigers. Why there is such discrimination? When both are listed in Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act? Other issue challenge could be issuing mining permit. What is the need for giving mining permission in sloth bear habitats? Sloth bears live in dry deciduous and march deciduous forest, and we are destroying their habitats. It was found that more than protected areas, sloth bears prefer to live in non-protected areas, as they prefer the rocky terrain of Deccan plateau. They don’t understand what is protected and what is non-protected. But if we destroy their natural habitat, then that will increase conflict. People are harvesting honey and collecting dry woods from forest, these are ultimately disturbing sloth bears’ normal foraging pattern. Fallen dry woods help in termite growth and bears are dependent on that.

On the other hand cattle grazing are banned in most of the forest. But that has a different impact on bear conservation as well. A reduced cattle grazing has reduced dung accumulation on forest ground and growth of dung beetles. Bears are insectivores, and excavate dung balls from ground and eat dung beetles, which they are not getting and encroaching to nearby villages where dung balls are readily available.

So, first of all, we need to understand this animal scientifically in order to work on conservation plan. Policy makers need to sit in common forum with scientists and regulatory framework has to be strengthened to prevent such activities. In old days to deal with poverty may be collecting minor forest produces was permitted, but now we have to review such provision in acts.

Not understanding wild lives is the biggest problem. All wild lives have prescribed behavioural pattern and they would never deviate from that. Only problem is we have less understanding of that and sometime we do not even attempt to understand. We think they are unpredictable, but if we are interested in saving them or even saving human being from them, then we have to understand them.

Exploring Nature: In 2009, WSOS had announced, that there was no dancing bears in the streets of India. What do you think are the other threats to sloth bears in India?

Dr. Arun A Sha: Threats for sloth bears are conflict and habitat destruction due to illegal mining. Also disease like canine distemper or rabies and death by land mines are some of the biggest threats of sloth bears in wild. Local villagers put land mines for wild boars, and bears because of their inquisitive nature are getting killed by these mines. Also snares kept for tigers are injuring bears and elephants in forest, as these two animals have natural instinct to explore everything around them in forest. We had rescued bears which were not dead but their skulls were badly broken, eyes popped out, tongues were into four – five pieces, that’s why I am more worried about un-noticed cases, because in such cases these animals will suffer and die. More than 50% cases at least are un-noticed, if not more. Or, sometime noticed but not reported, as forest department staff does not want to invite trouble for them.

Some action plan on regular combing operations for snares and land mines and provision of filing FIRs by forest department in case of such incidents, should be implemented at policy level to deal with such situations.

Also, burning undergrowth in forest, after collecting mahua and kendu leaves (specially in Jharkhand and Chattisgarh) is another way of triggering conflicts. Sloth Bears depend on those undergrowth for finding termites and other insects.

18

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

We, in WSOS, nowadays have come up with lot of data based workshop to educate school kids and forest dwellers to encourage practicing conflict avoidance behaviour, based on our scientific research. We do similar workshop for forest department officials as well, as they are the frontline people who go to forest and interact with wild lives.

Exploring Nature: As a veterinary expert, what is your key suggestion on overall improvement of wildlife health of the country? What are the main challenges? Do you think there should be a National level uniform policy for health management of wild animals?

Dr. Arun A Sha: Undoubtedly we need a National level uniform policy for health management of wild lives, and the focus should be given on minimizing response time after any rescue happens. Also, other important aspects should be vaccination of domesticated animals at the fringe areas of forests. Here in Banerghatta National Park, in every alternate day I see bunch of dogs come and we have tigers here roaming in national park, which may definitely pass on lot of infections. It’s easy to communicate canine distemper in such situation.

We know what happened in Gir in recent past, lots of Asiatic Lions died due to canine distemper. This was predicated almost a decade ago, many experts said, if we congregate one species in one area, something genetically or disease wise may happen to threat survival of such species, as too much inbreeding happens in one area.

Now they are trying to vaccinate the lions, without keeping in mind that canine distemper vaccination may not work for wild lives, rather they may pick up the virus from the vaccine itself. So, scientific approach should be vaccinating the dogs in fringe areas of forest. Concept of “Buffer vaccination” or “Ring vaccination” are not something new, but lack of sharing of knowledge is another issue as far as health management of wild lives is concerned.

So, a National level policy is required, but within the policy there has to be a species specific approach. Although there is variation from state to state and location to location, but a species specific approach and expertise will always be helpful.

Organizations expert in particular species have to be allowed to intervene whenever needed. Like WSOS, which is a species specific organization, not a state specific organization and always available to work for our focussed species anywhere in India.

The health management policy should also have provision to minimize retaliative behaviour of affected people. Besides giving ex gratia to affected people, the policy may be also extended up to surgical support, as cost of surgery to treat an effected people attacked by sloth bear is very high.

There is also need of continuing education and capacity development programme as integral part of such policy for the vet, para vet, forest department staff, assistants on species specific health management issues.

In our country, in some places there is expertise but no adequate resources, whereas in some places there are resources, but no expertise to effectively utilize those resources. In both cases animals are only suffering. Therefore, the national level health policy should have framework to ensure right mix and match between resources and expertise and emphasize should be given on participatory approach. Currently participatory approach in rescuing wild animals and managing their health issues is very bad in India.

Exploring Nature: Do you want to comment on WSOS contribution in country’s wildlife conservation and rescue mission? Does WSOS have any plan to expand their area of work beyond Sloth Bear and Elephant rescue and conservation?

19

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Dr. Arun A Sha: Of course completely eradicating dancing bear problems of India, in almost single handedly by WSOS and associated community development programme, with respect to Kalandar rehabilitation in Rajasthan and providing them alternative source of income generation – are the key contributions.

In this centre, out of 23 staffs, 9 are kalandar and they are the best person to understand sloth bear behaviour. We use kalandar staff as senior keepers to train new non-kalandar keepers.

As far as expansion of WSOS area of work is concerned, we strongly believe, bears and elephants are two key species in our priority area and there are still lot of things to do for the conservation of these two species. We always explore possibility of getting into conservation and rescue activities related to another third species, in fact, we already have a leopard rehabilitation centre. If necessity arise we are more than happy to work for other animals as well, but we believe if we can substantially contribute to the conservation of these two species that will be beneficial for other species as well. In ecosystem, if we can work for one or two species, then other species around them also get benefit of that. That is why everybody is keen to work for tiger conservation, because if tigers are protected then automatically its prey bases, forest around it will be protected. So everybody is concern about tiger protection but very few are working for sloth bear. Probably the glamour associated with tiger is more and that has not gone to the level of sloth bear or any of the four bear species we have in our country. All four bear species are much neglected.

So conservation approach towards other species is bit diluted and we think at least one organization should dedicatedly work for a so called “less glamorous” species like sloth bear. Also, I can vouch for this that as far as eradicating dancing bear and rehabilitation of kalandar community in concerned, whole world has to talk about WSOS for ever. Nobody else has even attempted to resolve these issues before WSOS. There are still lot of behavioural pattern of sloth bear yet to be unfolded. For example, in last month we came to know there is something called “pedi marking”. Sloth bears, like other territorial animals, mark their territory by rubbing their paw.

There are scent glands in their paw by which they do it. No other bear experts discovered this before. This took us almost 15 years to understand. There are lot of such things which are established, but we failed to understand, because our consciousness and time spent on them is little.

So, nowadays as a policy matter, we are extending our wings towards research side of sloth bear. As I said earlier, until and unless we understand and generate enough scientific data related to sloth bear, we will not make much progress in protecting and conserving sloth bears both in captivity as well as in wild.

All the wild lives are government property and all the information available related to wild lives are also government property, therefore Government Departments have to take advantage of the research work done by organizations like WSOS to build robust policies for sloth bear conservations, its effective implementations and sharing the knowledge in common platform.

Exploring Nature: It’s a difficult situation indeed, we understand, as far as managing wild lives and addressing their health issues is concerned, specially when we talk about sloth bear. But things are changing definitely and organization like WSOS are playing pivotal role in that. A 400 years age old culture of “Dancing Bear” you changed in 20 years, that’s itself, is a big achievement and wildlife enthusiast of this nation and whole world should feel proud of you.

Thank you very much for your time and insights you have shared with us.

20

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

What began as one man’s passion to conserve biodiversity and to put an end to poaching of wildlife and habitat destruction has over time evolved into one of the largest wildlife organizations in South Asia – Wildlife SOS – a heaven on earth for sloth bears.

Story Room: Imagining a Carbon Neutral Pune: Climate Action begins at Home

By Aditi Kale

A species of great apes migrated to various parts of the earth since last 50,000 years. This species has a large, wide-spread and increasing population and an enormous impact on landscapes and environment it occupies.

Humans have achieved great advances with the industrial revolution but have also affected the environment by enormous utilization and pollution of natural resources.

In fact, it has led to the unanimous proposal of adding a new epoch, the ‘Anthropocene’, to the geological time scale. Anthropocene represents the commencement of significant impact of humans on the Earth's geology and ecosystems, especially the anthropogenic Climate Change.

Advances in Science and Technology have led to tremendous increase in mechanization which depends entirely on energy. Energy is essential for transport, heating, lighting and powers the machinery that drives the global economy. Currently, the energy demand is mainly met by direct or indirect use of fossil fuels like coal, mineral oil, natural gas, etc. Since the last century, excessive use of Fossil Fuels has greatly affected chemical composition of atmosphere. Carbon dioxide levels have not been as high as this for at least the past 10- 15 million years!

Climate change affects weather, seasons, temperature, rainfall, freshwater distribution, coastlines, oceanic currents, etc., which, in turn, drastically affect ecosystems and survival of species living in them. Although there have been times with temperatures warmer than current rise, the rate of change at which it is taking place is faster than most of the climate shifts that occurred in the past. Thus this drastic transition will be extremely difficult to cope with.

In his book "The Sixth Extinction," Richard Leakey explains that in the past, migration helped animals adapt to changing climatic conditions by expanding or contracting their ranges. However this has been cut off by human settlement and activity. Sometimes the climate change is also too extreme for the species to be able to respond and may lead to their extinction. The invisible and cumulative climate change is increasingly causing stress to our ecosystems, resources, health, economy and security at various scales.

Several studies note that climatic conditions were much more stable, and thus predictable, earlier than they are now. The most important fact being that - all weather events are affected by climate change, even though not exclusively caused by it. These changes, extensively monitored over last few decades, continue affecting human civilization, environment and survival itself. We are already facing consequences of just 1°C rise in temperature and ever additional 0.5°C is going to make a huge difference.

We may be lucky to escape few of the direct or indirect impacts of Climate Change during our lifetime. But given, the complexity and inter-connectedness of the systems, it will be practically impossible for any individual or community to evade all these changes. We need to realise and respect that we affect environment

21

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

we live in just as it affects us. And take well-directed united efforts as responsible global citizens to mitigate and adapt to Climate Change.

The cost of not taking action in this decade is enduring huge losses to ecosystems, land availability, businesses, property and human life now and in future. Climate Change Action needs to receive huge momentum and importance at individual, community and governance levels. Despite political commitments, actual action on ground remains very low or almost non-existent. Thus creating a Citizen’s Movement is needed for meaningful Climate Action and a change in individual lifestyles and behaviour.

Urban areas have high per-capita emissions and need to rapidly reduce them at every level. Pune, as a growing city with increasing consumption of energy and natural resources, will have an important role in reducing India’s urban Carbon Footprint/ greenhouse gas emissions. This can be achieved by focusing on important sectors such as electricity, water, waste, transportation, constructions and overall urban planning. And, additionally, by conserving ecosystems and creating Carbon Sinks for offsetting emissions.

Realizing the need of the hour, Pune International Centre (PIC), a Pune-based Think Tank initiated the Energy, Environment and Climate Change (EECC) Project. A workshop on ‘Climate Literacy’ was organized on Sat 12th May 2018 in collaboration with Centre for Environment Education (CEE) with the objective of enhancing Climate Change Awareness in Pune and evolving an action plan for making Pune ‘Carbon Neutral’ by 2030.

Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, President, PIC, inaugurating the workshop, observed that Thought Leadership is the key to tackle climate change by unifying technology and policy to aid climate change action. He emphasised that we need to build a culture in our society for caring for the environment in all our activities – social, commercial or industrial.

Convener of the workshop Prof Amitav Mallik, in his opening talk presented an overview of the rapid rise of GHG (Green House Gas) emissions, mainly due to burning of fossil fuels. And spoke of the serious consequences of rising atmospheric temperature and Climate Change on the Earth ecosystem. He spoke on the need for urgent shift away from fossil fuels to clean renewable energies for the future. He observed that it is time for action by individual citizens who can unite to demand a carbon tax on GHG (CO2eq) emissions and also exercise their right to disinvest their money from fossil fuel companies. He emphasised that climate change awareness should create a momentum for changing lifestyles for a sustainable future and working to make Pune carbon neutral is a very good beginning for that.

The workshop brought together several NGOs and Institutions that are active on environmental issues in Pune.

Besides PIC and CEE the panel included – Prof Aneeta Benninger of Centre for Developmental Studies and Activities (CDSA), Ms Poorva Keskar of VKa Architects, Dr Priyadarshini Karve of Samuchit Envirotech, Mr Ranjit Gadgil of Parisar and Mr Shantanu Dixit of Prayas Energy Group. The workshop was attended and supported by several other environmental experts and enthusiasts.

The first session centred on 6 key areas which are considered to be most relevant and impactful in reducing the city Carbon Footprint and achieving lower carbon economy in urban areas.

1. Urban Planning: ‘Environment is a casualty to Development’ mind-set needs to be curbed Ms Aneeta Benninger emphasized that Urban Planning focuses on using environmental resources prudently to ensure a good quality of life for all citizens. Urban Planning and legislation should regulate and control Greed while ensuring that current Needs for a good quality of life are met in a sustainable manner in urban spaces.

She explained how these individual Needs should be determined, quantified, applied and monitored using

22

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

‘Normative Entitlements’ for framework (eg: amount of potable water supply, per capita space and local ecosystem or greenery required to be conserved per individual).

She emphasized that Urban Planning is an important tool to develop climate-friendly cities and maintain the ratio between natural and built environment only when properly utilized. Hence, she proposed that inculcating these values and beliefs in the Planner is important and the ‘Environment is a casualty to development’ mindset needs to be curbed.

2. Buildings and Constructions: A Green Building provides comfort and safety to its residents but not at the cost of environment Ms Poorva Keskar noted that Building and Construction Sector has a large potential for delivering long-term, significant and cost-effective GHG emission reductions. They contribute to one third of total global GHG emissions, mainly by fossil fuel consumption during their operational phase. They should be designed by respecting nature and considering climate, functional quality, material availability, technology and culture.

According to a survey, urban residents usually spend 90% of their time indoors. Hence building designs can potentially modulate the behaviour of the occupants and GHG emissions.

Ms Keskar suggested following measures by which it can be achieved– Choosing Architects and consultants aware and applying Energy Efficient Design/Green Building Design; Mandating Energy Conservation Building Codes; Buying property that assures Green Infrastructure such as Solar Water Heating, Waste composting, Solar PV use, Green cover and insulation for the roof ; Owners optimizing use, demanding less (so as to not compromise environment for comfort), prioritizing need over wants and avoiding Ultra-urbanization which promotes lack of contact with people and nature.

She elaborated on the barriers about training, mindset, cost-saving and lack of incentives and suggested measures like smart metering, Carbon Auditing and financial incentives for individuals and businesses using eco-friendly and low carbon practises.

3. Electricity: RIR Mantra Mr Shantanu Dixit recommended application of ‘Reduce-Improve-Replace’ (RIR) framework and integrated use of alternative energy with a view towards making Pune a sustainable city. He shared that Pune spends Rs 3000 crores per year on electricity consumption responsible for annual emission of 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents. The electricity sector contributes to 40-50% to domestic GHG emissions. Hence, alternatives which India opts to meet its electricity demand will significantly impact carbon emissions.

The RIR Model proposes Reduction (in consumption), Improvement (of gadgets) and Replacement (of fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy). He noted that the Consumption/Demand should be reduced and quality of supply improved to make energy distribution more equitable. He gave instances and figures to explain why efficiency should be improved through continuous grid supply, technological advances and innovations, smart meters and more importantly awareness amongst Consumers about its importance and relevance.

Lastly, he talked about significance of replacing Fossil fuels by integrating renewable energy in the electricity grid. He stated that although the landscape is rapidly shifting towards renewable energy, it needs to be complemented by policies and an environment conducive to overcome the limitations and bottlenecks in establishing required infrastructure, penetrating mainstream markets, being economically viable and successfully reducing GHG emissions.

23

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

4. Transport: While Policy supports sustainable transport, the planning prioritizes personal transport which is carbon intensive Mr Ranjit Gadgil emphasized on the fact that any attempt to limit the GHG emissions of a city must focus on moving away from fossil fuel based private modes of transport towards modes that are either zero or low emission modes, when measured on a per passenger km basis.

He said it could be achieved by implementing the Pull model. Measures like road space allocation for footpaths, cycle-tracks and dedicated bus lanes encourage sustainable modes and limit personal modes simultaneously.

He listed the co-benefits associated with sustainable modes like improved air quality, travel safety, lower expense on commuting and democratizing citizens by slowing people down and increasing their mutual interaction.

He suggested making Personal modes challenging by imposing congestion charging, restrictions on vehicle ownership, discontinuing loans for private vehicles, high parking charges and limiting the space available for parking and providing exemptions or concessions to electric vehicles. He observed that although governing bodies support sustainable transport, the decisions continue to focus on improving infrastructure for personal modes often proving detrimental to sustainable modes.

He also recommended that the city should make a carbon emission control plan instead off ad hoc decision making and mandate life-cycle assessment for all large infrastructure projects.

5. Carbon Sinks and Waste Management: Carbon Sinks and Carbon Negative practices will play a key role in achieving true ‘Neutrality’ Dr Priyadarshani Karve spoke on the importance of offsetting GHG emissions and removing GHGs from atmosphere (Carbon Sinks) when planning to go carbon neutral in a specific geographic area.

Plants take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and thus act as natural sinks by removing the main GHG from atmosphere. She explained that more effective and efficient carbon removal from the atmosphere occurs with restored local ecosystem or wilderness rather than manicured patches of plantation or garden. Protection and restoration of natural forests is important as trees do not exist in isolation but have relationships with the other flora and fauna. These balanced systems are very valuable as carbon sinks.

Thus forest patches and wetlands have to preserved and new patches in open spaces and water bodies across the city need to be created. She mentioned how these patches also provide ecosystem services such as holding rainwater, groundwater recharge, reversing the heat island effect, air and water purification, stress relief and recreation. Terrace farming, gardens, avenue trees and patches of wilderness also contribute to local food availability reducing the emissions during transport from source.

More than 50% energy requirement in India depends on fossil energy. She explained how offsetting fossil fuel related emissions are possible through waste management strategies, in a local context. She recommended that while citizens may be encouraged to care for and create carbon sinks and carbon offsetting systems, a big boost to these measures would come if CSR and other donor funding is directed to this sector, green enterprises build business models around carbon sinks and offsets, and appropriate policy incentives come from municipal and other government authorities.

Dr Karve stated that replacement of fossil fuels with decentralized Biofuel and Bio-Char needs to be made economically viable and provided with policy support. She recommended that Waste segregation and recycling or treatment ought to be dealt at ward level and not city level. If Pune chose waste management practices that deliver maximum carbon offsetting potential, it would greatly help the city move towards carbon neutrality.

24

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

She proposed that the city as a community ought to invest in a Special Environment Zone in the outskirts where sustainable and eco-friendly ventures and research is encouraged and supported. This zone will also act as model for sustainable living practices and provide a platform to drive actions and discussions regarding environment conservation and action.

6. Communicating Climate Change: Education as a driver for Change Ms Menon stressed on how ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ (ESD) can empower people to change the way they think and work towards a sustainable future. The ESD challenge for Pune is to support and unite people to adapt and be aware about Climate- friendly lifestyle. She emphasized the need to involve Climate change and sustainable development elements in school and college education.

Citizens need to develop systemic thinking, advocate sustainable changes, pressurize governing bodies and develop expertise and support for inclusion of sustainable development in policy. Change in use of Energy is important to achieve this and the choices we make about city infrastructure, transportation system, waste and water management, sources of electricity and conserving or creating ecosystems and wilderness count.

She put forth the need to develop following competences in to deal with Climate Change - Knowledge by systemic, critical, anticipatory thinking, handling complexity (change, controversy), Action by participating democratically, planning and realizing multidisciplinary work, evaluating, handling ambiguous, frustration tolerance! And establishing and encouraging cooperation, empathy for others, fairness to others, be ecologically sound.

She mentioned, in Pune, efforts include groups undertaking and promoting cycling, recycling, composting, urban farming, greening, water harvesting, energy harvesting, calculating carbon footprints which should be supported and polpularized. And lastly, she highlighted the need for development of regional centres for expertise in Climate Change Action, mitigation and adaption.

The Afternoon Session of the day was structured in a “Discussion Café” mode focusing on various sectors for reducing carbon emissions and to bring out a set of recommendations and action points. This session was designed and co-ordinated by Ms Sanskriti Menon and her colleagues from the CEE. The discussions and sessions of the May Round Table lead to the formation of Climate Collective Pune (CCP), a group of like-minded experts and professionals from diverse backgrounds working in Environment, Energy and Climate Change. CCP aims to make citizens of Pune aware and informed about climate change and thereby motivate them for proactive action to make Pune ‘Net Carbon Neutral’ by 2030. (Visit www.climatecollectivepune.org) India aims to adopt a more climate-friendly and cleaner path to achieve economic development than any adapted in the past. Hence, all individuals, communities, institutions and governance must contribute.

25

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Exploration Camp: Diary of a Highland Scout: (Part Six – Concluding part)

By Arnab Basu

13th October, 2017: The Solitary Highland

13th October at 9:00 AM, started with heavy rain overnight, easing but the gales continued through the day. In the morning we headed up onto the moors where we got lovely views of 15+ Red Grouse, very close to the roadside, with some of the male grouse displayed flighting and calling.

We also saw three Stonechats perched up on the moorland as we headed around to the shores of Lochindorb for a hot drink. It was still very windy up there beside the loch but we managed to pick out some Goldeneye, Tufted Duck and a few Goosander out on the loch, and also got good views of a late ‘greenland race’ Northern Wheatear perched beside the road.

From there we dropped down to the RSPB Reserve at Loch Garten for lunch, and found the feeders in the car park there very busy, with many Coal Tits, Blue and Great Tits. Several folk even managed to hand feed some of the incredibly tame 26

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Coal Tits!

After lunch we drove back up into the Findhorn Valley again for another crack at getting better views of Golden Eagle. On the way up into the glen we saw several Buzzards and also got good views of two Sika Deer feeding at the edge of the forest before we stopped to have a scan higher up in the valley.

Again there were good numbers of Red Deer out on the hill, along with some Mountain Goats and we got lovely views of a Red Kite that soared right overhead, and on the way out of the glen, John’s van got a good view of a Golden Eagle soaring, before it drifted off, and we headed back to the steading at the end of a great week!

Whole day Strong winds made it difficult for us to even stand on ground....

The series ended.... It was dusk in Scottish highland... A melancholy of bag pipes was heard from a faraway solitary Scottish house.....

Species spotted on Day Six: Birds: Red throated diver, Garnet, Cormorant, Shag, Grey heron, Pink-footed goose, Grelag goose, Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Eider, Long-tailed duck, Common scooter, Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Goosander, Red kite, Common buzzard, Golden Eagle, Kestrel, Red grouse, Red-legged Partridge, Pheasant, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Knot, Dunlin, Blacktailed Godwit, Bartailed godwit, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone, Common Gull, Herring gull, Great black-backed Gull, Guillemot, Razorbill, Woodpegion, Collard Dove, Tawny Owl, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Rock pipit, Pied Wagtail, northern Wheatear, Swallow, Robin, Stonechat, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Crested Tit, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Treecreeper, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Linnet,Parrot crossbill, Little Egret.

Mammals: Rabbit, Red Squirrel, Brown hare, Mountain Hare, Mountain Goat, Sika Deer, Common Seal, Grey Seal, Short-tailed Vols.

Photography by Arnab Basu

27

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Expert Speaks: Strategies for Conservation in India

By Baishali Bakshi

1. Conservation of wildlife in India is an extremely important problem owing to several reasons, both in a general sense as well as in a specific context for India. Here are some reasons: a. Biodiversity is essential for the effective functioning of ecosystems and for human well-being since humans depend on nature’s services such as water quality, carbon sequestration, climate regulation, pollination, and nature-based recreation. These services are interlinked with biodiversity and currently biodiversity all over the planet is threatened with habitat loss and species extinction mainly due to human population rise, migration, conversion of natural landscapes for agriculture and human-wildlife conflict. b. These impacts are magnified in densely populated regions of the world, which also happen to be biodiversity hotspots, typically have weak institutions to enforce/manage natural resources and have low resource availability for the average human (income, access to amenities, schools etc) compared to developed regions of the world. Therefore, a human-wildlife problem will be more severe on remaining natural habitat in India and more complex to solve compared to a similar problem in Australia or the UK. c. Climate change will worsen the already severe effects on natural habitat and wildlife in these areas in the near future. The impact of climate change itself will be disproportionately worse for these regions as they are situated in the tropical, sub-tropical and equatorial regions. These regions, having lower socioeconomic resources will be less able to cope with the impact of climate change on humans, wildlife and natural resources than other regions of the world. Therefore, the already more serious and complex conservation problem becomes even more complex due to the added impact of climate change. Strategies taken currently need to account for the uncertainty from this added effect.

2. Now that we are agreed that conservation is important for India, how should we go about it? A model for conservation should systematically consider several parameters, for example: a. Available habitat for key species (in the order of endangerment based on scientifically conducted censuses) across the nation,

b. Then assess the threats to the populations of these species in each of the habitats considered c. What is the price of not doing anything? When will tigers be extinct given current threats? d. Find what is the critical population levels needed for continued survival given such threats and a timeline based on c? e. Rank the threats in terms of impact: for example if X number of leopards died in India in 2017, what is the breakdown on causes for these deaths: 15% died from poaching, 20% from railway/road collisions, 30% from 28

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

revenge attacks by people from conflict or other reasons (finding an animal in a populated area is enough reason to beat it to death say for heroism or selfies), 25% from habitat loss from conversion of forests for development etc. f. Based on d and e and related variables (for example possible changes in human population, migration, agricultural expansion in forest-village fringes), assess which threats are most important to manage for continued survival of the species.

g. Manage the most important threats first on a priority basis and devise strategies to do the same. For example if revenge attacks on wildlife is one of the main causes of wildlife deaths, then engineer your strategy to meet this threat. What constitutes this threat: for example habitat loss due to grazing, people living and making livelihoods from core forest areas, eventual cattle-killing, fear/perceptions of wildlife among local people/villagers. You need multi-pronged methods to make this strategy work: devise a proper compensation scheme for killed cattle based on market rates and consultation with cattle owners, enforce laws on grazing and people living or making livelihoods in forest areas: it cannot be that a tiger has to see people or cattle 24 hours a day and is also punished if it kills a cow, install forest guards in areas most prone to conflict (use past data) and properly equip them to tackle a conflict situation (a mob will not be allowed near a stray animal, forest guards need to be schooled in animal handling procedures that result in successful rescue operations, they should be able to send messages quickly to authorities about a developing situation and so prepare for it), meet with locals/villagers in a friendly way to understand their concerns and help them live with wild animals as peacefully as possible, educate them about values from nature and biodiversity, help them earn more money from protecting habitat, not from destroying it—ecoforestry schemes for example, distribution of low emission cooking stoves is a very small example that works. h. Get an idea of all of the interested parties where conservation of a species is concerned: the locals/villagers living near the forest or using the forest in some way, the government, NGOs, corporate sector: power companies or mining companies interested in the area, academia/research institutions, the public at large who may have different types of values for wildlife or nature. i. Combine the ecological model of a species consisting of natural growth rates with the threats considered before. Finally blend these two models with a stake-holder based value/appreciation model to understand what is at stake, what are your goals and how you can meet them given current situation. Compare with experiences of similar regions in managing similar problems. Use lessons learned. Execute!

3. In point 2, I have noted the approach for a model to tackle a conservation problem in a developing country like India. As you can understand this is a serious task involving a lot of learning and hard work in terms of academic research, fieldwork and engineering social change and managing public relations across economic sectors, which can take a long time to yield desired results. It also requires substantial state and academic support. It is very important to actually devise and follow such models to understand complex conservation problems and make progress over time in building better solutions. However right now, you need a quicker strategy that reduces the number of preventable wildlife deaths from either conflict or bloodlust or corporate greed or calculated political strategies for short term gains or lack of enforcement or government apathy. Wildlife and natural resources are on a timeline. They may not remain or be able to be recovered if we have to wait for India to reach a level where academic, government, socioeconomic variables and public support are at optimal levels to execute scientific results. For example, it has been 20 years since scientists have said that the Gir lions need a translocation strategy to a suitable habitat. But the translocation never happened and now the remaining lions must pay the price in various ways. So right now, we should understand that conservation is extremely important for India’s endangered wildlife and the general public and government authorities need to know that India cares about this problem.

29

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

a. So generate public support for conservation. Pool in scientists from ecology, economics, evolutionary biology, experts in GIS for spatial habitat mapping, local knowledge on the subject and combine them with students in the field and wildlife lovers all over India to form a formidable unified team with clear goals. b. Use the help of scientists to develop an educated guess on the timeline for individual species: tigers, leopards etc. Set your goals to beat this timeline. c. Work together to systematically generate support for conservation among the public and demonstrate in large numbers to make the government take notice (protests, request for public information on state sponsored decisions about wildlife management: wildlife belongs to all Indians so the public has the right to know why any kill decision or any decision to give away prime forest land for ‘development’ is taken by authorities, what is the data/evidence on the need to kill? What is the data on potential development? How is one goal measured against another in monetary terms? Ask to see scientific evidence on all dimensions of these decisions). Demand environmental impact assessments (EIAs) on potential economic development projects that uses habitat. d. Demand from the government that areas prone to conflict be managed better, both in terms of rescuing wildlife that strays into villages and in terms of preventing people from expanding habitation/use of forests and understanding local concerns. Demand compensation schemes that work. e. Demand justice for illegal takings of wildlife. Demand enforcement of existing laws. No one should be above the law irrespective of how poor or how rich they are. There should be actual penalties for beating a tiger or leopard to death or mobbing a core forest area. When we do not enforce these laws, we systematically violate conservation principles and fail to protect wildlife. Remember, a poor villager has low voice, an animal like Avni has no voice and is actually endangered.

4. Direct your energy to execute point 3 right now, while you gather the resources and learning required to develop goals in point 2. Eventually 2 and 3 will intersect and may work seamlessly supplementing each other for effective optimal conservation.

Voice of Nature: When Nature is in Focus………

A complete coverage of a biodiversity and wildlife seminar in Bangalore.

On 7th, 8th and 9th of September, 2018 at Hotel Ottera, Electronic City, Bangalore, Nature in Focus organized its 5th Nature in Focus Festival. The aim was to get all the like-minded people who care for nature and wildlife on a single platform to meet, learn and interact On second day, Kalyan started the session by mentioning that although we spend lot of time in Forest as wildlife photographers, but we often fail to pay enough attention to trees in forest and do not capture their beauty. Then he invited Nirupa Rao, a botanical illustrator based in Bangalore. Her 30

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

illustrations are inspired by regular field visits into the wild, and are informed by close collaboration with botanists to achieve scientific accuracy. She explained, what is botanical illustration and how can it remain relevant in the age of the camera. Nirupa talked about the art of painting plants — from sketching trees in the field, to creating detail with layer upon layer of watercolor. She also provided a look into the process of illustrating 30 native trees for Pillars of Life, recently published with Divya Mudappa and Shankar Raman of the Nature Conservation Foundation. Nirupa mentioned in her talk that, “We all love animals but the only way to protect the animals is protect their habitat, which is trees and plants in forest.” She also told us that, beyond the scientific purpose of illustrating trees, there is an artistic motive as well. She said, botanical illustration is not about competing with nature photography, rather its complementing. Taking photographs of trees in dense forest is not an easy task, segregating one tree from a cluster of trees will always be a challenge. Botanical illustration can come handy in such cases.

Next speaker was Sachin Rai, an eminent naturalist and wildlife photographer with over a decade's worth of experience to his name. Sachin has also been honored with prestigious accolades including two photography awards and his work has been featured on numerous magazine and book publications. He told us how he got into macro photography and precisely frog photography from a generalist photographer. He ran us through his frog photography in Western Ghats and told us his story of evolving as a frog photographer.

Next speaker of the day was Jay Prakash Bojan, who is also an award winner of NIF 2017 for photos of Orangutan in Borneo. He recently won the Grand prize title as the National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2017 and the Singapore Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017. He has been published by Nat Geo, BBC and several international magazines. He took us through his experience as wildlife photographer in Indonesia and Malaysia and chasing Orangutans and Proboscis monkeys over there. He also narrated his experience of studying redshanked douc (Pygathrix nemaeus) or Red Shanked Langoor of Vietnam, with some mind-blowing images, which is known as most colorful and beautiful monkey of the world.

After this talk, there was one of the main events of the festival – the launch of “Leopard on the Rocks” written by Dr. Sanjeet Mangat. Sanjeet Mangat is a medical science graduate who left his practice at the age of 38 years to pursue his love for travel and wildlife photography. He has travelled extensively around the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries of India. The book, Leopard on the Rocks, consists of his visits to the amazing hamlet of Bera in the Jawai area of Rajasthan, showcasing the birds and animals of the region and the issues that it's facing. It took nearly five years for him to work on leopard of jawai and capture their behavior ad habitat. During this period he was accompanied by Thakur Devi Singh Ji, who also has been documenting and photographing leopards in the Jawai area of Rajasthan for over 20 years. From the times of the princely states when leopards were part of the shikar [arranged hunting trips] to the conservation and tourism change of today, Thakur Saab has seen it all. Devi Singh’s daily ritual of following his beloved animals, naming them and keeping track has helped others also to learn how to connect with these wild animals.

Dr. Mangat, acknowledged Devi Singh’s hospitality as key contributing factor in completing his book. Later Devi Singh talked about their ancestors’ background as hunter and how they got evolved into leopard and 31

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

wildlife conservationists. He also narrated his story on how he converted his palace in jawai to a resort to host more and more wildlife enthusiasts across the world and how that helps in bringing leopards of jawai and bera into limelight.

During lunch break, I got an opportunity to interact with both of them and buy the book as a value addition in our exploration kit and got it autographed by both of them. The amount spent to buy the book would be utilized for leopard conservation in India, as per the announcement made by the organizer of NIF 2018.

The post lunch session was started with a fun event called “Bird Brainer” – a quiz session on birds, specifically designed to test birdwatchers’ familiarity with sounds, salient features and behavior of birds.

After this bird watcher Suhel Quader talked about “Birds and People: forging new connections”. Suhel is a biologist at the Nature Conservation Foundation, an organization working towards research, conservation and public engagement of India's biodiversity. He talked about his bird watching approach and importance of sharing information by the bird watchers through digital media and portal like e bird, for the benefit of bird conservation and documentation. He stated that, “As bird watcher, it is our responsibility to share information and it is a fact that we don’t have enough birdwatcher or photographers in our country.” He also talked about “Bird Count India’ and “early bird” – two initiatives to spread awareness on birds in India. Bird Count India aims to document the distributional range and the abundance of Indian birds, from the finest scale (e.g., within a city) to the largest (across the country).

Next speaker was Jainy Kuriakose, a bird photographer with a relentless passion for the planet's avian wealth, which sees her travel to all corners of the Indian subcontinent and across numerous foreign lands. Jainy, who has a doctorate in Chemistry, took to bird watching about ten years ago and when it became her life’s guiding devotion, she resigned from her job at Infosys and turned to full-time bird photography. She took us through her photography on birds, which are active in night, e.g., Nightjar, Frogmouth, Owlet nightjars and Owl, through her journey of chasing these birds in different parts of India and Papua New Guinea.

Next speaker was our very own, Shivaram. Shivaram Subramaniam is a nature lover, a traveller and a wildlife photography enthusiast. A management graduate with nearly two decades of corporate experience, Shivaram gave up his full-time job in 2012 and decided to follow his heart and travel the country. He was also introduced

by Kalyan, as most elusive photographer who hates social media. He said, doing wildlife photography is all about giving time. If you give time, it will give you result. He said his inspiration for wild lives was Phantom comics, what everybody probably had read in their childhood. Whereas for most of the photographers probably it is national Geographic or Animal Planet. He took us through his photography experience in Corbett National Park and Himalayas.

After this, another eminent wildlife photographer of India Sudhir Sivaram, a full-time photography teacher, conducting Wildlife Photography Tours and Workshops, conducted a small session on post processing by using Adobe Photoshop. Sudhir said very candidly, “Post processing should be showing what you saw, nothing more than that.” He also emphasized on spending more time in field than on Photoshop. He advised not to think about Photoshop while shooting and get it right in the field by using photography techniques.

32

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

The next session started with Sreedhar Vijayakrishnan’s talk about his experience in grwoing up with Elephants. He is a biologist studying wild Asian elephant behaviour and physiology in human-use landscapes, particularly in the Anamalais of the Western Ghats.A trained biologist Shreedhar, spent lot of time with Mahoots as part of is study of elephant. His presentation mainly focused on human-elephant conflict. His talk opened the panel discussion on human wildlife conflict. In India, unlike tigers, the bulk of whose range falls within Protected Areas, only 22 per cent of elephant habitat is enclosed in sanctuaries and national parks. Since the rest of their range lies in areas of increasing human density where there is intense competition for the same resources, conflict is inevitable. Therefore, this is indeed a sensitive issue from both human and elephant’s point of view, and as the discussion progressed, the emotion of the panelist became more conspicuous.

The panelists were Sreedhar, Surendra Verma (Conservation Scientist), C. S. Subbaya (a coffee estate owner from coorg), Jyothy Karat (Journalist), Vinay Luthra (Retd. PCCF – & Chief Wildlife warden of Karnataka), and Anu Reddy (Retd. PCCF Karnataka). The moderator was Conservationist and writer, Cara Tejpal.

The panel focused on different aspects of this conflict, both on human and elephant side of this issue. Mr. Luthra, uttered the most touching comment, which is an inconvenient truth - “The problem will still persist, still human being successfully make the species (elephant) extinct.”

Mr. Verma, emphasized on the fact that a very small portion of elephant actually causes conflict. Nagarhole has around 1500 elephants, and hardly 60-65 are causing conflict in surrounding area. He kept on mentioning that, conflicts happening, because of outside attractions – the dumping of garbage in coffee estates and planting of trees that are not ecologically sustainable but commercially valuables – are becoming sources of “junk food” for the elephants and they are coming out of forest for that. If there were dearth of food for elephants inside forest, then all the elephants would have come out.

Sreedhar focused on social and tolerance issue of people. Change in behavioral-ecology of people to deal with this. He identified it as more a social issue than a biological issue and emphasized on coexistence.

However, Subbaya, the coffee estate owner from coorg, kept mentioning the significance of impact on human and the human life is more precious than animal life.

Joythi, on the other hand, took a mid-way stand and mentioned it should be welfare of both human and animal.

She emphasized on media’s role in getting and publishing facts right and help in bringing this issue in lime light.

Kara ended the discussion by saying that, there is no one solution to this conflict, on which most of the panelists agreed.

However, there was an overall thrust on promoting concept of cohabitation of man and animal in order to deal and reduce this conflict.

The first presentation after a short break was on Rewilding India by Krithi K Karanth, shared how research has provided insights for innovative conservation interventions. Krithi K Karanth is an Associate Conservation Scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society and works as an Adjunct Faculty at the Duke and National Centre 33

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

for Biological Sciences. A PhD holder in Environmental Science and Policy, her research in India spans 20 years, encompassing issues of human dimensions of wildlife conservation. Key elements of her talk was wildlife issues in India’s outside-protected areas.

She took us back to 1850, when trophy and bounty hunting started by British Royal officers and led to collapse of Indian wild lives. During her PhD research, she found that, between 1875 to 1925 – around 60,000 tigers and 150,000 leopards we lost. She took us through, on her research on extinction history of Indian wildlife and focused upon recovery, coexistence and conflict. She also talked about some of her initiatives and projects for human – wildlife conflicts – Wild Seve and Wild Shale – to take wildlife education and awareness at grass root level. Purpose of Wild Shale is to build empathy towards wild life and Wild Seve is to build resilience and tolerance at grass root level.

We get to know some fascinating facts, which are also matter of concern – In our country, we have one state, which does not have any compensation policy for human death due to wildlife attack, four states that does not have any compensation policy for property damage due to wildlife attack, and seven states, which does not have any compensation policy for livestock killing.

The last presenter of the day was the keynote speaker of the festival - Will Burrard-Lucas, a professional wildlife photographer from the UK. He is also the founder of Camtraptions and WildlifePhoto.com. He talked about remote photography and shared his experiments on remote photography. How it evolved over a period and how his invention beetle camera evolved and become more efficient.

The BeetleCam is a remote controlled buggy with a DSLR or mirrorless camera mounted on top, which can be used to film and photograph wildlife at very close range. Created by Will Burrard-Lucas, its first shots were released in 2010 in a series called "The Adventures of BeetleCam." It filmed African wildlife in the Ruaha and Katavi National Parks in Tanzania. One of the cameras was destroyed in an encounter with a lion. Will Burrard-Lucas and his brother, Matt, returned to Africa in 2011 with two improved BeetleCams, with the aim of focusing on lions. During this project they created a set of pictures of feeding lions and playful cubs. This series was first released in 2012 in an article called "BeetleCam vs the Lions of the Masai Mara". BeetleCam Mark II used a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III. In 2012, Burrard-Lucas moved to Zambia and used a new version of the BeetleCam to photograph leopards and other animals, primarily in South Luangwa National Park. In 2013, Will Burrard-Lucas founded Camtraptions Ltd. and started producing BeetleCams for other wildlife photographers and filmmakers.

He concluded by saying that all these techniques are not meant to replace traditional photography. There are just to complement the overall photography.

The day was ended with the announcement of the winners of Nature in Focus 2018, Photography Awards. There were around 5200 images from more than 600 participants.

Winners in different categories are: 1.

Manasi Gopinath, Young Photographer category; 2.

Indranil Basu Mallick, Humor and Wild Life category; 3.

Pratik Pradhan, Creative Nature category; 34

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

4.

5.

6.

Shatabdi Chakrabarti, Conservation Issues category; Anjani Kumar, Wilds cape & Animals in Habitat; and Anand Nambiar, Animal Portrait & Behavior category

NiF photographer of the year was Pratik Pradhan. …… to be continued.

Updates from Exploring Nature

Annual Meeting – Guwahati – Balipara – Nameri 23rd December, 2018, I flew from Bangalore to Guwahati, reached Gopinath Bordoloi Airport at around 5:30 PM. Dwaipayan arrived from Kolkata at around 6:00 PM, and then together we travelled to Khanapara, where we stayed in an OYO room. In the evening we met author of Exploring Himalayas and photographer Mukul Mukherjee, and few other local Asammese wildlife enthusiasts, who have profuse experience in wild life. We had our meeting in a local restaurant and were primarily discussing wildlife photography and improper behaviour of tourists in National Parks in India.

Ethical issues related to wildlife management was also a topic of discussion.

During meeting we worked on a draft plan around involving Mukul in “Journey to Save Tigers” initiative launched by Rathin Das. For which Exploring Nature is the communication partner. We discussed probability of doing a long march in Western Ghats area and conducting a workshop with the help of PTPC and WWF. Mukul is a volunteer and member with WWF and has conducted lot of awareness workshop in North East India, specially in Namdhapa, Kaziranga and Manas.

Evening dinner with different preparation of pork with whiskey after the brainstorming session was quite fabulous.

24th December, 2018, at 8:30 AM, we started for Balipara, where Dwaipayan is posted as site engineer for a 400 KVA transformer installation project of National Power Grid Corporation. It was 4-5 hours of road travel for about 180km distance. We reached Balipara Power grid Corporations’ township at 3:30 in afternoon.

After reaching there we did a quick visit to villages around the township, where frequent incidents of human elephant conflicts had happened in recent past. We saw few paddy fields where crops were destroyed by elephants, and small shops which were smashed by them.

35

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Evening we had a very unique Christmas Eve party within switch yard of 400 KVA power station, with other engineers and contractors of power grid. Special menu of the party was duck meat, Bacardi and Goan country liquor – feni, which I carried from Bangalore.

25th December, 2018, at 11:00 AM we went to Nameri National Park, which is 14 km away from the power station. Nameri National Park is a national park in the foothills of the eastern Himalayas in the Sonitpur District of Assam, India, about 35 km from Tezpur. Nameri is about 9 km from Chariduar, the nearest village.

Nameri shares its northern boundary with the Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary of Arunachal Pradesh. Together they constitute an area of over 1000 km2 of which Nameri has a total area of 200 km2. The park was declared a reserve forest on 17 October 1978. It was set up as a Nameri Sanctuary on 18 September 1985 with an area of137 km2 as a part of Naduar Forest Reserve. Until then the Nameri National Park was heavily used for logging. Another 75 km2 was added on 15 November 1998 when it was officially established as a National Park.

The vegetation type of Nameri is of semi-evergreen, moist deciduous forests with cane and bamboo brakes and narrow strips of open grassland along rivers. The forests are rich in epiphytes, lianas, and creepers and clump-forming bamboo. This forest has over 600 species. Some notable species are Gmelina arborea, Michelia champaca, Amari, Chukrasia tabularis, Ajar, Urium poma, Bhelou, Agaru, Rudraksha, Bonjolokia, Hatipolia akhakan, hollock, Nahor. It is home for orchids like Dendrobium, Cymbidium and Cypripedioideae. This is excellent elephant country and was considered to be an elephant reserve. It is an ideal habitat for a host of other animals including the tiger, leopard, sambar, dhole (the Asiatic wild dog), pygmy hog, Indian wild bison, clouded leopard, leopard cat, muntjac, gaur, wild boar, sloth bear, Himalayan black bear, capped langur and Indian giant squirrel. Nameri is a birdwatcher's paradise with over 300 species. The white winged wood duck, great pied hornbill, wreathed hornbill, rufous necked hornbill, black stork, ibis bill, blue-bearded bee-eaters, babblers, plovers and many other birds make Nameri their home. Nameri faces two threats: One is due to continued official logging in the area of Sonitpur.

The major threat for Nameri is human/animal conflict due to around 3000 cattle grazing the forest. The other human/animal conflict is due to the vast group of elephants in Nameri. There were several cases of elephant deaths. In 2001 there were 18 elephant deaths. A great threat is possessed on this protected area because of poachers who hunt the valuable birds for their wings.

Bush walk in the park started at 1:00 PM, after crossing the 40 feet deep Jia Bhoroli River. The Jia Bhoroli river of Assam was famous since the time of British for the golden mahseer angling. While crossing the river we spotted few cormorant and wood ducks. Our guide was Lalit Bohra, from the beginning of the forest trail, he was telling us how risky it is to see wild lives, when you are in your feet on forest path.

We sae few Tokey Gecko at the beginning. After half an hour of bush walk, all of a sudden, we heard noise of animal movement from our right hand side, from a nearby scrubs. Lalit noticed a porcupine slided trough deep 36

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

forest. After an hour when we were walking along a water body, Lalit suddenly asked us to stop. We saw a herd of Water Buffalo. A huge bull was leading the herd. Wild Buffalo could be quite dangerous if they feel threatened by human presence, and escaping them could be difficult if they charge. Therefore, instead of standing and taking photos, we crossed that place in hurry and hidden behind a nearby watch tower. The herd also turned around and disappeared within forest. Probably, they were coming for water, but our presence stopped them as well. Once they were disappeared, we came out and tried to follow their course and saw they were going deep inside the forest.

After another half an hour of trail walk, we reached to another watch tower, climbed up to top of the tower.

There we waited for an hour. We saw one Indian Bison (Gaur) or locally known as Mithun appeared while grazing. It was a huge male. We saw couple of female sambar deers as well.

At around, 3:30 PM, we climbed down, and started walking to come out of the forest. When we were crossing a path through grassland, we heard frequent call of sambar deer. That confirmed movement of big cat in nearby forest. Lalit told us couple of days back he saw two Bengal tigers, presumably, one female and her sub adult cub, in that same grassland. Possibility of face off with Bengal tigers in grassland, when we were also on our feet, gave a goose bump for a moment. After that we concluded our 3 hours long forest trekking of 5 km long trail.

26th December, 2018, whole day we spent in reviewing videos of Rathin Das’s fasting and interaction with local villagers of Sundarban, as part of “Journey to save Tigers” and “Protest against Tiger habitat loss” in Sundarban area of West Bengal. We decided the basic pattern of the 15 minutes documentary, which will be uploaded in Exploring Nature’s YouTube channel.

Conflict in Swampland – An aborted exploration 27th December, 2018, morning at 6 o’clock, I left Balipara to catch Calcutta bound flight from Tezpur Airport. A tiny airport which started commercial operation just few weeks back on 9th December. When I reached there, the main gate of the airport was closed, and that was first time in my life, in my 15 years of flying experience, I made the CRPF Jawans open the gates of airport, as I was the first passenger of the day. The airport was primarily guarded by women CRPF personnel.

I reached Kolkata at 11:30 AM, via a short halt at Guwahati. After that, I had flight for Dhaka, and my exploration in Swampland began. The plan was to stay in Dhaka with co explorer and member of Exploring Nature, Sankar Singha, at his company guest house. Sankar was posted in Bangladesh for few years as an Environment, Health and Safety Manager of a Power generation company. We had two nights three days plan to explore Bangladesh part of Sundarban. Sundarbans, formerly Sunderbunds, vast tract of forest and saltwater swamp forming the lower part of the Padma (Ganges [Ganga])-Brahmaputra River delta in south-eastern West Bengal state, northeaster India, and southern Bangladesh. The tract extends approximately 160 miles (260 km) west-east along the Bay of Bengal from the Hugli River estuary in India to the western segment of the Meghna River estuary in Bangladesh and reaches inland for about 50 miles (80 km) at its broadest point. A network of estuaries, tidal rivers, and creeks intersected by numerous channels, it encloses flat, densely forested, marshy islands. The total area of the Sundarbans, including both land and water, is roughly 3,860 square miles (10,000 square km), about three-fifths of which is in Bangladesh. Therefore, we thought, the Swampland exploration should start from Bangladesh Sundarban, instead of India (West Bengal).

37

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

28th December, 2018, morning we were headed towards Kamalapur railway station, after an overnight stay at Sankar’s company guesthouse, at Dhaka’s posh locality of Baridhara, to catch Sundarban Express to go to Khulna. From Khulna, we were supposed to take cruiser for Sundarban trip. 30th December, the general election of Bangladesh was supposed to be held, and election in Bangladesh has always been messy and bloody. In previous few elections, it created lot of unrest in country, therefore our tour operator advised us to get into cruiser on 28th December itself, whereas the tour would start from 29th December.

Following was our tentative agenda: Day Place Day – 01

Transport Boat

Khulna – Kotka

Day – 02

Boat Kotka – Kochikhali

Day – 03

Boat Kochikhali – Khulna

Schedule Arrival at Khulna in the morning at around 06:00hrs, and report to our waiting cruiser M. V. BHELA at forest jetty Khulna, at 07:00am sharp the boat will start cruising towards the Sundarbans Forest. Arrive Kotka wildlife sanctuary at around 1600hrs.

Upon arrival hiking in the Kotka forest area to see wildlife and forest. Back to the boat in the evening. Overnight on the boat.

Early in the morning we shall offer trip through small creeks and canals by country boat to see the wildlife and feel the forest from very close. After breakfast Jungle walk, walking through the Forest trail to the beach etc will be offered. At around 12:00hrs start cruising towards Kochikhali wildlife sanctuary, upon arrival Jungle walk near forest office. Bar – B – Q dinner and overnight on the boat at Kochikhali Early in the morning we shall offer trip through small creeks and canals by country boat, back to the boat for breakfast and some other activities near forest office. Around 1000hrs, start return journey towards Khulna. Arrive Khulna at around 21:00hrs and dinner will be served. After dinner disembark from the boat and end of the tour

We boarded on train, the station was jam packed. Everybody was going home, as it was a long weekend with Friday a public holiday, and Saturday, Sunday – election. Although, our compartment was quite empty as it was an AC reserved compartment. We took our seats and kept our bags on overhead bunks. We were quite stressed out – more psychological than physical – the hustle bustle of the chaotic railway station probably made us bit panicked. Once, we saw the calm and clean compartment, we felt relaxed and the holiday mood engulfed 38

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

our mind. We got settled and engrossed in deep conversation on wildlife and biodiversity.

We almost forgot about our surrounding, and anyway there was nothing interesting around us, the sight of dingy railway track side of Bangladesh railways was definitely not worth viewing and remembering.

Sankar and I got involved into deep conversation on wildlife and biodiversity issues across the world, specifically in India and South Asia. It was fascinating to hear someone like Sankar, a well-travelled and earnest wildlife enthusiast, on wildlife of Laos, Thailand and Malaysia. I was sharing my experience in Savannah of South Africa, Scottish Highland and Sumatran Rain Forest.

The train stopped at next station (Biman Bandar station). Few more passengers boarded; I looked up towards luggage bunk and got a chill in my spine. My camera bag was not there where I kept it. For few seconds I could not believe, what I saw. But it also didn’t take much time to comprehend the reality!

Yes, the hard truth was I lost my latest Nikon D720 camera (which was used only once in Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary, last summer), one Sigma 150-600 mm lens, i-pad, 1 TB hard drive (with all my work), and my official laptop. The hardest part was, my passport was also in that same bag.

I lost the bag, or precisely somebody stolen it. It was full of around 2-3 lakhs rupees worth stuff inside it.

We got down from the train, Sundarban trip got cancelled then and there. But at that point of time more than disappointment of trip cancellation, fear of dealing with uncertainty and anticipation of tough time ahead of us, was prominent in our mind.

I got stranded in the foreign land, without passport. Next few days would be running between police station and high commission offices, amidst the tension of election.

I did lot of biodiversity exploration in remotest and risky part of the world. Got chased by wild elephants; felt presence of fearsome predators around me; dealt with adverse natural calamities; almost got drowned in whirlpool; got my tent ransacked by baboons. But never felt so hopeless in the middle of any exploration.

In all previous cases, situation popped up in front of me, without giving any time to be prepared for those. The risk was high but the pain due to stress of dealing with such situation was short-lived. But, this situation came with a message that an incremental level of stress was waiting for me for an indefinite period of time.

In that situation, only think I could tell myself that “adventurous life comes with pain!”

This year would end soon, in another few days. I don’t know, when I would go back home. But on that very moment I decided to pull myself together, and decided to dedicate the New Year, the 2019, for exploring biodiversity in Swampland. The year 2019 would be the year to explore Conflict in Swampland.

2nd January, 2019, after five days of running between Indian high commission, police station and Bangladesh embassy, Sankar and I decided to do some biodiversity exploration, to ensure the trip doesn’t go complete waste.

I am grateful to Sankar, as on those days he arranged my accommodation in his company guesthouse and deployed his local travel agent to coordinate with Bangladesh visa processing departments. He made his office vehicle and driver available for all this coordination work with different departments.

In those days, amidst election in the country, I didn’t have much opportunity to go around. But I utilised that time to consolidate my thoughts on my future exploration plan and as a result, I conceptualized the idea of my book “In the Shadow of Tiger”. Also, Sankar’s amazing colleagues always gave me company during 39

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

evening badminton games and jogging around a nearby park. His local Bangladeshi cook, was an artist of preparing Bangladeshi delicacy. Therefore, overall I was having good time there in Dhaka, apart from the little glitch in mind over the uncertainty in going back home.

So, on 2nd January morning, after the declaration of result of Bangladesh general election, when it was considered safe to travel around in the country, we went to Jahangirnagar University.

The university stands on the west side of the Asian Highway, popularly known as the Dhaka-Aricha Road, and is 32 kilometres away from the capital. Spread over an area of 697.56 acres (2.8 km²), the campus surrounded by the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC) on the south, and the Savar Cantonment on the northeast, on the north of which is the National Monument (Jatiyo Smriti Soudho) and a large dairy farm on the east. The topography of the land with its gentle rise and plains is pleasing to the eyes. The water features sprawled around the campus make an excellent habitat for the winter birds that flock in every year in the thousands and consequently, it is a site frequented by many bird watchers. The campus has around 20-22 waterbodies which made it a sanctuary for winter migratory birds. Migratory birds come to the campus from Siberia, China and Himalayans reign during the period between December and January. Among others species, the lesser whistling ducks which is known as Choto Sorali and greater whistling ducks is known as Boro Sorali are found more in JU lakes than other species.

Gargeney, lesser whistling duck, Indian hawk cuckoo, little cormorant, jungle babbler, spotted dove, stork-billed kingfisher, grey-headed fish eagle and Asian open bill are some of its notable species that can be commonly seen. If one is lucky enough, then they might get a sighting of the locally rare scaly thrush or brown-winged kingfisher. This university campus isn't just famous for birds though, rare reptiles and mammals such as black krait, many-lined sun skink and golden jackals also reside here. So it is quite a gem for birdwatchers around the capital city and foreigners who love birds and wild lives must also put this university campus in their travelling list. On 19 January 2017, the university arranged a bird fair in its Zahir Rayhan auditorium of the campus.

We reached there around 10:00 am, it was one hour thirty minutes’ drive from Dhaka, approximately 33 km. We were there till 1:30 PM and then had lunch at local Bangladeshi restaurant within campus, with authentic and ethnic Bangladeshi food.

During our visit, we saw open billed stork, lesser whistling duck, lesser cormorant, bronze winged jacana, pond heron, purple heron, red vented bulbul, common drongo, oriental magpie robin, lesser furvulous woodpecker and one water monitor.

The ponds were blushing with blooming red water lilies.

40

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Theme Poster

By Rakesh Kumar Biswas

Journey for Tiger.

41

YEAR 4/ISSUE 07-08-09/MARCH - MAY 2019

Wishes Happy International Biodiversity Day (22nd May) and inception day of Exploring Nature, the journey started from Gir and still continues……..

….. With a vision to make the Earth a better place to live by re-exploring and revealing secrets of Mother Nature to mankind; and ….. a mission of Exploring Biodiversity to pay tribute to Mother Nature by promoting awareness on her different aspects among people as well as encouraging Bio-Diversity Study, Eco-Tourism and Nature & Wildlife Photography. ….. We have only ONE EARTH and merely ONE CHANCE to SAVE it....

42