Avinash Krishnan
Ranga, who died in a road kill two years back on October 8, was a free-ranging bull and a popular tusker. He had gained name and fame for roaming around the rural parts of Bengaluru and Tumakuru with his own confederation of bull elephants.
He was known for his penchant for agricultural crops and bold demeanor. Hailing from a landscape which often surprises anyone who understands the nuances of wildlife conservation in India; the Bannerghatta National Park is the only protected area to host the Bengal Tiger and the Asian Elephant around Bengaluru City, the third largest metropolis of India.
Ranga, as fondly called by the locals, was one of the very few bull elephants who could tactfully escape the corollary of human-elephant conflict in the country. Our research followed him, since 2003 while he was a young adult associating himself with other key crop raiders, specifically males and forage into multiple use areas far away from his natal range. He was known to have perhaps the largest (spatial = 3000km2) and longest (temporal = 25 years) involvement in crop raiding in reported history of conflict elephants in southern India.
This handsome tusker was intelligent with a keen sense of observation skills especially in maneuvering roads, rail tracks and fences. Ranga managed against all human-odds. Despite multiple attempts of retaliation by the local communities whose farmlands were affected by his depredations as also the claims of human and property loss by him and his confederation of bull elephants, he continued to thrive relentlessly making his way back and forth between his natal and foraging grounds.
At his prime, he appeared larger than the average bull, standing at 9.5 feet at his withers (the highest part of an animal’s back). Ranga instantly earned the title of being the biggest bull tusker in Bannerghatta NP, as his size and conformation was quite evident to any onlooker. He continued to grow in mass as he foraged mostly in agrarian landscapes extending far into the Bannerghatta-Tumakuru landscapes.
In September 2015, we sighted him in Bannerghatta NP with a supposed injury on his left-foreleg. He was limping along his regular forage trails in the area trying to gain access to female groups of his very own breeding ground. Our team assisted the local forest department and veterinarians in the treatment of his injury post which he eventually relieved himself and was back again to his foraging ground 100 kms north west of the park in the accompaniment of another young recruit.
It was known to most forest managers and conservationists that this annual crop raiding jaunt wouldn’t last too long as the communal pressures were escalating due to the depredations caused by these elephants. On 26th December, 2016, he was captured along with another accomplice in Bantrakuppe forest of Tumakuru district, one of his favourite crop raiding forays.
The capture was celebrated by the locals; it was a spectacular sight of millions with mixed emotions. He was brought the same evening to the Bannerghatta Biological Park for the commencement of the capture-taming process. The kumkis who captured him made this their new camp only to train Ranga and his ally, into their new life of captivity.
Ranga, in his four months of training adapted well in captivity, he became quite popular once again among the forest frontline staff, mahouts and researchers who took daily care of his welfare. His appetite was even more gregarious! In June 2017, it was decided that he will be shifted to the Mathigod elephant camp – to be trained as a prospective Dasara elephant.
The lively tusker continued to live his life in captivity socialising well with his inmates until 8th October 2018 when he was hit by a speeding bus, while crossing the road returning to his camp.
This incident sent waves of grief among many elephant lovers and some even blamed the authorities for their negligence. However, the mighty Ranga sets a paradigm to all of his wild conspecifics to the current state of negative human-elephant interactions, which is highly detrimental to the conservation of this iconic species.
(The Author is a Conservationist and Sr research officer with A Roche India Field Study Centre.)