Meera Bhardwaj
The recent botched up capture operations of a Gaur which had strayed into the port city of Mangaluru in Karnataka, India exposes the sheer lack of wildlife expertise and field training for vets deputed for such complicated exercises.
Despite the need for ‘permanent wildlife vets’ and creation of an exclusive cadre for them in the forest department, the Karnataka government has failed to take any decision in the past decade. Unlike neighboring states, Karnataka is home to sizable numbers of big carnivores and herbivores, however, in a shrinking habitat – conflicts have risen and become very common.
This is not the first time that a capture/relocation operation of a mega herbivore has been botched up and the animal has died in the process. The fault clearly lies with the policy makers as they have failed to take any action despite Karnataka having the highest number of elephants and tigers as also leopards and other big mammals in both protected and territorial areas.
Further, one cannot expect “Vets without any wildlife experience” to deal with elephants, tigers, leopards, bears, gaurs and a host of species without training and gaining experience at a premier PA in the country. Also, yearly upgradation of wildlife veterinary sciences knowledge is necessary which is witnessing a sea change in the last decade.
NEEED REGULAR CADRE OF VETS
Presently, Karnataka Forest department is facing an acute shortage of veterinary officers. Only five out of 10 posts has been filled and that too on deputation from the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services (AH&VS) department
Sanjai Mohan Head of Forest Force and PCCF says “We need a regular cadre of wildlife vets in our department. We have five veterinary officers while the rest five posts are vacant. Even these five vets are on deputation and their parent department [which too is facing shortage] has asked us to send them back. Day in and day out, we are facing conflict situation across the state and therefore, ideally every district should have a dedicated and trained veterinary officer to deal with rising man-animal conflicts.”
NO WILDLIFE EXPERIENCE
The PCCF added vets working in the AH&VS department or zoological parks have no experience of working in the PA or dealing with big carnivores or mega herbivores like gaurs. “Although the state has vets in every district, they deal with cattle and sheep only while the vets from the zoological parks have experience of dealing only with captive animals and not wildlife. Many a time, we have to depend on zoo vets to tackle a conflict. This is a very tough situation for us resulting in problems during capture operations of big mammals,” Sanjai Mohan informed.
Adding to this, wildlife experts also recommend upgradation of knowledge and workshops for vets through annual exchange programs with international wildlife facilities in US, UK, South Africa and Australia. This way vets as also range forest officials in Karnataka too will fine tune and upgrade their know how to deal with rising man-animal conflicts.
MANGALURU GAUR OPERATIONS – WHAT WENT WRONG?
On May 5, the sight of two gaurs on the roads of Mangaluru city created a big commotion and people panicking with police and forest officials being informed. One of the excited gaurs was darted by a Vet from the Pilikula Zoological Park who had no previous experience in dealing with free ranging mega herbivores. This gaur was well built and weighed almost 700 kilograms. In the meantime, people started chasing and video graphing the gaur on their mobile phones in spite of the lockdown. There was total failure on the part of police officers to manage the unruly crowd even during such a time.
In such a scenario, around 11 am, a very scared and excited gaur was darted in the hot, humid and sultry weather of Mangaluru. In the aftermath of the first darting, the gaur ran for 45 minutes and was chased relentlessly till the poor animal was severely stressed and exhausted. The second darting was done just before 12 noon and within 15 minutes, the gaur collapsed.
And in this condition, the poor animal was tied with a nylon rope and hoisted by a crane on to a vehicle. But this was all done in the midst of chaos and screaming crowds thereby, adding more stress to the stressed animal. Unfortunately, the gaur was transported in this condition for releasing it back in the wild. On their part, forest officials claimed that the animal died when it was being released.
NO VITAL SAMPLES COLLECTED
Post mortem was done by a local vet at the release spot but in the absence of the vet who carried out the darting operations. Surprisingly, no vital samples were collected from the carcass before its cremation leading to lot of doubts and questions on the reasons for its horrible death.
As per SOP, vital samples of all Schedule-1 animals has to be collected, preserved and sent for lab testing to ascertain the reasons for death. This was not done due to sheer inexperience.
Criticizing the capture operations, wildlife experts said, “One needs a well planned team to handle any post capture operation complications. Added to this, it took place in the midst of an international port city where the crowds were chasing an excited, scared and stressed animal. Further, after darting, there should be complete silence during the induction period which lasts from 7-15 minutes. This is what happens when you allow a vet who has no knowledge of wildlife and result in loss of a precious mega herbivore that is the food of 5-6 tigers for a week.”
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