Idukki, the serene, hilly district of Kerala that is a sought after tourist destination, has been witness to widespread protests over the past few days. The protesters’ demand that Arikomban, a wild tusker that is wreaking havoc in human settlements, be captured. The protests aggravated after the Kerala High Court on Wednesday, March 29, objected to the state government's plan to capture and rehabilitate the elephant. Instead, the court said that the tusker may be tranquilised if it enters human settlements as a temporary measure, and ordered the fastening of a radio collar to track its movements. It also directed that a five-member committee of experts be constituted to advise the court on solutions other than capturing the elephant.
The residents of ten panchayats in Idukki observed hartal on Thursday, under the aegis of a joint action council, in protest against the court order.
Arikomban became the focus of residents and forest officials in February this year, because of the many damages it has caused to local residents. The elephant was given the moniker Arikomban (rice tusker) as it is known to follow the smell of rice and eat it.
But Idukki is no stranger to wild elephants that stray into human settlements and wreak havoc. In January, a herd of elephants had entered several estates in Devikulam taluk. This is not the first time that the people are up in arms over wild elephants entering their backyards either. However, the relocation of wild elephants in the region is said to be an impractical, demanding task.
Even though the state Forest Department had obtained the order to tranquilise and capture the elephant on Sunday, March 26, the High Court, in an interim order issued on Thursday, stayed the mission to capture the elephant till March 29. The stay was ordered while hearing a petition filed by People for Animals, a forum of animal welfare activists, that challenged the plan to capture the tusker. “Getting permission to capture a wild elephant is a long process. But by the time the process was completed, the court had ordered a stay,” a Forest Department official told TNM.
The Forest Department is now trying to prevent the elephant from entering human settlements. Four kumki elephants (trained, captive elephants) who are used in operations to capture rogue elephants had also been deployed in the operation.
The people of Chinnakkanal and Santhanpara panchayats have been at the forefront of the protests demanding the capture of the tusker. “The elephant has raided ration shops to eat rice more than ten times. There were times when people had narrow escapes from death. The elephant smells rice and comes to take it. But it also targets human beings, which is why we are demanding its capture. By the time it goes back to the forest, the damage would have already been done,” Uma Maheswari, vice-president of Santhanpara Grama Panchayat, told TNM. She said that implementing the High Court’s order will result in the people losing their earnings, their houses, and all of their belongings, adding that most residents of the area are daily wage labourers.
However, the member of the Panniyar ward, Murukan, held a different opinion. Even though he agreed that the elephant needs to be captured, he blamed the encroachments into forest land for the tusker’s rampages. “It is because people have encroached the natural grazing areas of the elephants that they are now coming to human habitats. People even would threaten the animals using firecrackers. I don’t have a difference of opinion on capturing Arikomban now as it destroys farm produce. But there are around 30 other elephants too. Unless human encroachment into animals' natural spaces is addressed, I don't think a lasting solution can be reached,” he said. A forest officer also expressed the same view, saying that the elephant cannot be said to have been straying into human settlements, as the area is the natural habitat of elephants too.
Angels Nair, an animal welfare activist who has moved the court with a similar petition to prevent capture of animals, said that the problem is not that of animals straying into human areas. “The elephant is active in Anathara, which is a lake in the middle of the human settlements. It is from the lake that the elephant drinks water,” he argued. “If we were to talk about the legal side, a state government has no right to give orders to capture an elephant under the Wildlife Protection Act. Also, people should not use firecrackers near elephants, it should be burst at a 50 metre distance and not in the face of an elephant. Here in this case too, the blame can not be on the elephants,” Angels further said.