The forest cover is shrinking, wild life is dying and flora and fauna is disappearing. When are we going to wake up?

Every day of the year is a celebration for us. June is the month that stands out for two important days of celebrations. On the 5th of the month, we had World Environment Day which saw hundreds of thousands of students marching across cities and towns and planting saplings on both sides of roads and in public places like parks. This is a practice that has been going on since 1973 when it was established as an annual event to put a full stop to environmental degradation and pollution. Had all the saplings (nay, at least one-fourth of them) grown into full-fledged trees, our roads and public places would have become dense forests! But the truth is that the forest cover in India has come down drastically over the years.

Along with greenery, the country’s wildlife to is fast getting disappeared. During the colonial era, the rulers of the princely States had taken to hunting as a passion. Their masculinity was measured by the scores of wild animals like cheetahs, tigers and leopards which were shot by them! These Kings used to entertain their guests by taking them to dense jungles where they would use sophisticated weapons to kill the harmless animals thereby stoking their egos and energizing their macho feelings!

Even as students and youth of Kerala were staging rallies and planting saplings last Monday to mark world environment day, a wild elephant named Ari Komban was running helter-skelter through the streets of small towns adjoining the dense forests of the Western Ghats in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. The elephant, whom politicians and leaders of religious factions, address as a rogue elephant, was not running after any human beings but it was frantically searching for water to quench its thirst. Ari Komban belonged to the jungles of Chinnakanal in the Idukki district of Kerala from where he was tranquilized and transported to the Periyar Tiger Reserve, nearly 100 km away so that he would not invade the human settlements in Idukki. Indeed, Ari Komban regularly called on the villages to have his quota of drinking water and food because there was no water or food available in the forest.

The massive deforestation and planting of eucalyptus trees in nearly 2000 acres of forest land had led to the disappearance of wild streams and tributaries of the Periyar river which were the water sources for the wild animals. Political parties that rule the State of Kerala vied with one another in resettling the tribals in forest areas, the home territory of these animals. Whenever the animals felt thirsty and hungry and they could not find out water or eatables inside the forests, they would trespass into areas that legally belong to them in search of water. How can we expect the wild animals to know the nuances of title deeds issued by the Revenue Department to persons constituting the vote banks?

While tree saplings were being planted by students, hundreds of original “Vanvasis”(tribals) were staging a demonstration in Chinnakanal demanding that Ari Komban be brought back to the forest adjoining their settlements. They had reasons for making such a demand. All of them were familiar with the tusker who may be in his late 20s or early 30s and had maintained cordial ties with it. According to P A Sojan, a small-time farmer in Chinnakanal, at no point in time, the pachyderm had attacked any human being. The Kerala Government officials have slapped murder charges against him for all the unresolved murder mysteries in the region underscoring the age-old dictum “if you fail to nab the original accused, nab whoever comes across you and make him the accused”! Well, this too comes under the Jungle Law!!

Last heard the health of Ari Komban is a matter of concern. Who will be able to withstand the effect of power-packed tranquilizers? We forget the fact that wild animals too have a right to live in this world.

(The writer is special correspondent, The Pioneer)