By Meera Bhardwaj
Even as the country is battling Covid-19 pandemic, a team of 35 members – comprising forest officials, veterinarians, wildlife experts and villagers quietly saved an Indian Gaur in Sagar territorial division of Karnataka. Considered as one of the most dangerous animals in the Indian jungles, this large extant bovid was found blinded and highly distressed.
The state forest department successfully captured this young Gaur from a trench where it had fallen and translocated it to the Tyavarekoppa Tiger-Lion Safari near Shivamogga city. Till now, any attempt to “capture and translocate” gaurs in the state have failed but this operation was successful and presently, the Gaur is recuperating.
It was on April 28; this gaur was found with a wound in its underparts and blinded in both the eyes. This was maybe, due to a territorial fight with another animal or a fight with a dominant male for mating.
The healthy Gaur, about 4-5 years old was found in Bommatti village limits of Sagar taluk. It was in a highly stressed condition and hardly able to move about. With the bovine being tracked by wildlife experts and veterinary doctors, forest officials moved in swiftly to take permission for its capture and translocation to Shivamogga. With permission granted by the Chief Wildlife Warden, on April 30, the gaur was captured safely and relocated to the Tyavarekoppa Safari.
The team headed by Sagar Territorial DCF Mohan Kumar comprised ACF Shridhar, RFO Pramod, Sagar Range forest staff, S G Vinayaka, former honorary wildlife warden, Shivamogga, Akhilesh Chipli, wildlife conservationist and villagers. The DCF added, “It was with the help of some 25 villagers, the gaur was pulled after sedation into the cage and relocated. Fortunately, it is doing well, eating grass, drinking water in its new home. This is a fragmented area with small patches of forest interspersed with plantation and villages. Also, the population of gaurs has gone up in Sagar area and at night time, you can see them in plantations. Damage to crops is heavy and we have been paying compensation.”
The team of Veterinarians in the operation included Dr Sujai from Tyavarekoppa T&L Safari, Dr Vinay from Shivamogga Wildlife Division and Nikita, assistant vet. After observing its health parameters – its weight, physical condition and behavior, the Gaur was administered a sedating drug Xylazine and Ketamine. The 850 Kg animal was then shifted to a cage manually.
It was not an easy task as everybody pulled to shift the animal without causing any injury. Yohimbine, a drug was administered to revive the animal. With the help of a crane, the cage was then lifted to a vehicle for transportation. After traversing a distance of 65 kilometers, the Gaur was released on Friday afternoon in the verdant environs of the Safari.
At the Safari, the animal was treated for its dehydration and urination problems and is now eating properly and demonstrating its normal chewing behavior.
Now why was this blinded Gaur captured and translocated? S G Vinayaka told Green Minute that the Gaur was young and likely to live in captivity for 10-12 years. It was part of a herd of seven individuals and involved in conflict with humans. Also, its chances of survival were very slim.
He added, “The fragmented forest area where it was found was a human dominated landscape. It would have died due to loss of its sight and would have got involved in conflict with humans as it was now stuck in a paddy-areca nut growing area. Local communities supported the capture as it was a big headache for these 4-5 villages in the event of the animal blindly raiding their fields.”
Native to South and South East Asia, the Indian Gaur is a Schedule-1 animal under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Declared as Vulnerable as per IUCN Red List, their population has been dwindling due to destruction of grasslands and spread of commercial plantations.
The male gaurs weigh anywhere between 1000-1500 kgs and females 800-1000 kgs. Almost 90 percent of the world’s gaur population (13,000-30,000) is in India that are spread over the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve area and in the humid and dry deciduous forests of the country. With fragmentation of forests, they have now moved into human-dominated landscapes and can be seen happily occupying spaces in tea gardens and coffee plantations in Kodagu and Wayanad areas.
Usually, a herd has one dominant male and the rest females but all male bachelor herds and solitary old adults too have been observed. Huge bovines, the home range of a herd covers about 78 sq kms. Their preferred habitat is grassy terrains and forested hills.
Very social animals, they move in herds containing 8-11 individuals. It is very difficult to approach these animals as they are very shy and avoid interaction with humans. But if provoked, they have been found very aggressive and can cause severe injuries with their horns. The need to protect this species is imperative as they are already endangered due to its habitat loss and susceptibility to bovine diseases.