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Elephant Estimation @ Bannerghatta NP on Oct 30-Nov 1 2009

November 10, 2009, 11:29 am
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Members of KANS viz. myself, Ananthraj and Harish participated in the elephant estimation exercise carried out by A Rocha and the Karnataka Forest Department.

Background:
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The forests between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has always been a region of high man-elephant conflict (MEC). In addition, the regional disparities have also played their role with the forest departments of each state blaming the other for 'pushing' elephants to the other region and creating havoc in the agricultural lands. KANS has already completed a study of the MEC with the help of ANCF. ANCF has in the past carried out trials of barriers that could prevent elephants from straying into human habitation.

Objective:
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KANS intends to reduce the MEC and for this it was important to understand the elephant behaviour and also understand the stand taken by the forest departments of the two border states in tackling MEC.

A Rocha and the KFD are carrying out this exercise to estimate the number of elephants. This will be followed up with a census in December by when the KFD expects an influx of elephants migrating from Tamil Nadu. Based on the increase, the KFD intends to provide adequate resources to manage MEC and incorporate this in the management plan for BNP.

The event:
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The event was addressed by Dr. Vijay from A Rocha who welcomed the volunteers and spoke about the gravity of MEC.
He was followed by the DCF Mr. Venkatesh B., who talked about the initiatives taken by the KFD for tackling MEC. There were further talks by the RFO of Anekal range who described the terrain and the constraints and challenges in tackling MEC.

A key point was the fact that from this year onwards the KFD was planning to refrain from pushing back any of the elephant herds migrating towards BNP. All efforts, would in fact, be put into restraining the elephant within the park boundaries. A Rocha was planning to assist in this by putting up 'Chilli-tobacco fence' at the exit areas of the park.

After a quick tea-break, Mr. Gopal Krishna, Senior Researcher A Rocha explained the techniques of the estimation exercise viz. Block count and Water hole count and the procedure to be followed for collating the data.

Subsequently, all the volunteers were divided into 3 teams..one for each range viz. Anekal, Bannerghatta NP and Harohally and they were shunted to their respective ranges.

At Harohalli: Day 1 (Waterhole count):
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I was assigned to the Harohalli range. Gopal, who was in charge of the team, assigned the waterholes to each of the volunteers.

Geri and I were in-charge of the Erle Kallu Katte waterhole. Early on 1st morning, we took off with Gopal 'literally' on the wheel and we were dropped at our respective water holes. Bhommaiah was the guard entrusted with our lives, in case we were attacked by elephants.

Soon as we disembarked, we did a quick recce of the waterhole and found a shady spot where we could have our packed breakfast of pulav. Geri and Bhoomaiah dug into their b/f while I decided to stave off the hunger. Having experienced this at Ramanakere at Bhadra Tiger Reserve in May 2007, I knew that hunger will keep knocking at our stomach doors all day and I had realised that 'delayed gratification' was the only solution.

The hours ticked by slowly. No sign of elephants and Mr. Bhoomaiah was getting restless. While he suggested that we move to a higher altitude from where there is a possibility of sighting wildlife, we explained to him that the objective of the exercise was not to sight wildlife. For that we could have visited Bannerghatta Zoo!!

Soon after lunch, we undertook a quick 1 hr trek to a nearby hillock where we say a lot of elephant activity.
Upon our return, I continued my new hobby of chucking pebbles at frogs and towards evening we were joined by Senthil and Aruna who had spent the day at a nearby water hole.

Gopal came to pick us up, and in the intervening period the guards tried to make things a little exciting by narrating stories of people attacked by elephants and by alighting some of the bombs that had been given to us to scare elephants in case we ran into them!

There was a welcome surprise for us when we returned to the range office at Harohally. Lilavati (Lily) from BNP had been brought into town to carry the local diety, Chamundeshwari Devi, the next morning.

At Harohally: Day 2 (Block count):
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The team composition was changed slightly. I was teamed with Mr. Narayana Forest Guard. Enthusiastic fellow that he was, we scoured the block that we were assigned (Bheemadoddana halli to Ravutanahalli dam) up and down, criss cross...but no direct or indirect signtings :)

Finally at around 11.30 am we called it a day and caught up with the other teams who had to be picked up. Rajath and Shashi, however decided to play truant and did not appear till nearly 2pm while the actual reporting time for all the teams was 12 pm. Thankful that we were to see them in a single piece, we left for Kalkere where we had to assemble and share notes and make a quick estimation of the number of elephants.

The final count, arrived at after hearing from everyone was that the NP had around 50 elephants!

Conservation Notes:
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- The information received from the field staff was inconsistent. While one guard categorically said that elephants always come from TN, another said that KFD also pushes elephants to TN resulting in the TNFD and local TN villagers together pushing back an equal or higher number of elephants back into BNP.
- According to one of the field staff, there are nearly 300 elephants in BNP!
- According to one of the field staff, cattle grazing can be strictly curtailed but due to the ongoing crop-raiding, the KFD also seeks cooperation from the villagers and hence the cattle grazing threat is not seriously addressed.
- The neighbouring Kanakapura Reserve Forests can be notified and included within the BNP. The FD staff in Kanakapura RFs take bribes to allow live stock grazing and this puts the BNP staff in an uncomfortable situation.
- The count of elephants significantly increases during the months of Oct-Feb. This is primarly due to elephants migrating from South to North. These forests and the ones in the Hosur Forest Division receive most of the rain from the North-East monsoon and hence elephants have traditionally moved from South to North in search of water and food.
- The migratory behaviour brings a lot of pressure on the neighbouring agricultural lands which are raising fresh crops after the rains. The FD tries to control this through night vigil and firing bombs.
- The reason for crop raiding has to be ascertained. While it is clear that they find crops more palatable, the fact that the forests do not have ample fodder is a matter of concern. One reason for this could also be the degradation of the forest from livestock from the villages.
- Elephant population has also been increasing due to the protection measures adopted by the FD. However, the measures such as creation of artificial water holes should be analyzed properly. Wildlife should be left to remain wild. There should be no human intervention in providing them with fodder and water e.g. artificial water holes. This is the manner in which nature keeps a check on the population and any human intervention will lead to imbalance and could result in unpleasant actions such as culling!!!

Participants:
KANS Members:
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Laxmeesha
Ananthraj
Harish

Others (in Harohally team):
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Rachana Patwardhan
Geraldine Fernandes
Aruna Vedale
Chitman Kaur
Shashikala
UdayKumar S.
Sunil Karthik
Senthil
Rajath Ravindran
Ayaraj
Suresh


-
Laxmeesha Acharya
President
Kenneth Anderson Nature Society
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Bandipur Night Traffic ban hearing on Nov 4, 2009

November 10, 2009, 1:03 pm
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Though I had been visiting the high court for the past 7-10 days, I had never had the experience to sit through a case hearing. So, when I got a call from CWS that the Bandipur case hearing was coming up that morning, I rushed to the court. I met Poornesha, from CWS, who had also come to attend the hearing.

The hearing was in Court Hall (CH) 1. This is located on the 2nd floor. We checked the list of cases that was listed outside the hall and noted that our case was listed 75! Wondering how long it would take for the court to reach till 75, we nevertheless took up our seats and got engrossed in the various cases that were being heard. Except for the odd case here and there, most of them were adjourned and our case came up at around 12pm.

It seemed like this was most prestigous case being heard that day. From the respondents, there were 8 advocates and there was our lone petitioner!

Some of the arguments put forth by the respondents were:
- Alternate roads are not good enough and vehicles reaching bangalore were coming in late.
- As per the RTI information from Muthanga, there have been no roadkills in the past 1 year.
- The photos given by the petitioner have no supporting documents to prove their authenticity.
- Convoy system should be allowed so that a win-win situation can be achieved. This can be trialed for at least 1 week to check for its effectiveness.
- The DC cannot implement the ban under Motor Vehicles Act since it is applicable only for public convenience and safety.

Against the above, the 2 judge bench including the Chief Justice Mr. Dinakaran, stated the following:
- The traffic is restricted only from 9pm till 6am. If it were from 6pm-6am, then the court could have considered the request. But the current timings were good and all business can be done before or after that. People have to adjust to these timings
- All impleads are from people point of view. Someone has to consider the point of view of wildlife and the court is doing that.
- The question is not only about roadkills happening at night, but animal behaviour is also affected. Hence, even convoy system is not advisable.
- Under the Motor vehicles Act, traffic is not being prohibited..it is only being restricted.

Further observations and conslusions of the High Court:
- According to information received from FD, animal movement has improved during night.
- The court is not convinced to vacate or modify the ban
- All parties have to submit authorized copies of traffic regulations implemented in protected areas across the world.
- The next hearing will be in 8 weeks time.

Participants:
KANS: Laxmeesha Acharya
CWS: Poornesha H.

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Laxmeesha Acharya
President
Kenneth Anderson Nature Society
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Elephant calf rescue

January 27, 2010, 3:54 pm
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Saravanan (Junior Research Fellow, ANCF) came across this small family consisting of a young calf, a mother and a sub adult along the banks of the river Cauvery. He observed that the mother and young calf did not move away from the banks. The mother was standing still and a sub adult which was grazing in the jungles nearby would charge out every now and then when the calf called out. It was obvious that the mother elephant was seriously ill. Saravanan managed to contact Karthikeyan (committee member, KANS) and passed on the details of the situation. Karthikeyan got in touch with the DFO and by the time the FD team reached the place next day, the mother had died sometime in the night and the sub adult was nowhere to be seen. The young calf however was standing by its dead mother when we reached the scene.
Sentries were posted all around the area in the fading light, to keep at bay the missing sub adult or any stray herds in the area. The team set about carrying out the postmortem of the dead mother amidst regular bang of fire crackers. Meanwhile to spare the already traumatized calf from any more pain, it was removed from the scene. It took all the strength of three grown men and Karthik to coax and drag the calf towards the jeep parked about half a kilometer away. As soon as we reached the place where the Anchetty stream joins the Cauvery, the little calf greedily fell upon the water and drank for a good 15 minutes.
The calf had gone hungry for over a day and day and had probably not even had a drink of water. The calf was then shifted overnight to Vandalur zoo in Chennai, where it appears to be doing well. However it is obvious that the forest department at least in this region is neither equipped nor trained to deal with such situations.

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Sanjeev Kumar S.R
Vice President
Kenneth Anderson Nature Society.
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Synchronized tiger census in Hosur Forest Division

February 9, 2010, 11:16 pm
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This is going to be an interesting excercise as all the beats (around 65) are going to be covered, and it is expected that if tigers are present they will surely show up in the census. Besides it is also a good opportunity to come across other wildlife and birds that are found in this region such as elephants, sloth bear, leopard, dhole and the nearly 200 species of birds.

Date: February 20th to 25th

Considering that volunteers will be unable to spare weekdays, please confirm your availability for the 20, 21 weekend. If you can take the time off, you can continue to participate on the other days as well.

Important: In order to avoid sending unneccessary emails to people in our volunteer database who will not be participating in the Tiger census, I request you to kindly fill in this simple 3 line form to help us keep things simple:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEg5ZmtnelVpQjlDN1pRVUhzTDlYWXc6MA

I will be emailing a manual/presentation on the methods when I receive it from the FD to the people who register on the above link.

Best wishes
Sanjeev Kumar S.R
Vice-President
Kenneth Anderson Nature Society
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Synchronized Tiger Census In Hosur Forest Division - Feb 2010

October 12, 2010, 9:23 pm
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I was under the impression that I was in for Tiger Census in the  Hosur FD, Although I am generally not very well informed I knew  the Tiger Census were over. However keeping my skepticism aside I  plunged in volunteering for the task.

A little about the survey, organized by KANS (Kenneth  Anderson Nature Society) jointly with the forest authorities during the weekend of 20th and21st of Feb. The  idea was to gather volunteers, break them into groups and send  them to different divisions. The group itself will be broken into  at max 2 people plus the Forest Guards to trek into the forests  through a path called the beat. Day one was for Direct sighting,  so volunteers were to keep their eyes and ear open and of course  mouth shut for direct sightings of animals and birds. Day two was  for gathering indirect evidences of the fauna through collecting  scats and  examining/photographing pug/hoof marks. All the groups would enter  the forests at the same time so that the chances of sighting  increases and counting the same animal is reduced. We were to establish credential that Tigers/Leopards are in the area.  This way the forests that are currently only under Reserve Forests status get promoted to Sanctuary status, as its counterparts in the Karnataka Forest division. Higher the status, more security, hence more chances that the forests are protected from the human interferences.



 It has been quite a while I was out in the wilds and in the company of people who felt drawn to nature the way I do. So, I was  all for it. When Sanjeev (He is KANS V.P.) said that because of the overwhelming response from all together 80 odd people they  have to draw lottery I didn't really think about it. Its like I  was almost dead sure to get in, you could say I had some sort of  divine foresight :). And Voila! I was in.

Somehow no matter how much of preparation you put to get geared  for a trip you know you have missed out A-LOT-OF essential stuff  behind. So me minus a cap and jungle tracks packed bags for Hosur.

I had no means of transport and even after the numerous mails being exchanged to carpool and stuff the following day still left  me with no clear idea of how to reach the cattle farm at Hosur where all the volunteers were asked to assemble at 6pm. And then Chitra (seriously it was like God sent an angel to my rescue) called the only other female in my group. We were assigned to the same Denkanikottai range.

So, after a few negotiations I was excused from office at 4pm. Me,  Arun, Valli and Chandan squeezed into Chitra's car at Silk Board and headed to the cattle farm.

I knew KANS is a well established society, what I didn't expect  is the kind of reception that welcomed me. All the people who came together for the survey were the kinds you could call tree huggers, nature freaks, people who were deeply concerned about the retreating forest covers and depleting numbers of the wildlife. We  had a roaring discussion until 8-9ish about this and that. Then  the ACF, Mrs Padmavathi updated us about the intentions of the  survey and the necessary precaution we are to take that included changing your socks and not using perfumes.. :). The DFO, Mr Ganesan then spoke lengthily into the night about his experiences in  various forest ranges he has been so far. Most of us felt disgruntled at his attitude for comparing the present range with  ones that are known to be thickly populated with wildlife and thus  declaring the current region "very-poor-in-wildlife" . But yes,  despite his pessimism one must appreciate his never fading sense of responsibility to protect the forests and love for the creatures that live in it. He spoke and lot about Makhanas in  particular and the increasing number of their sightings. Makhanas are the male elephants that have no tusks or very small ones hence appear as females. He was speculating about the theory whether this is a reaction to the rampant killing of  tuskers in these areas by the poachers. Well, we did keep our eyes peeled to sight  a makhana but as luck goes, we did not even sight a single elephant, let  alone a makhana.

The guest house at Denkanikottai came as a rude shock to the volunteers who were all geared up with sleeping bags and what not only to be given well maintained rooms with fans and Television sets!

We sat until the late night talking about places we have visited and all the freaky naturalists we have met along the way. Arun recounted all his travelogues while Chitra kept us giggling over this one forest officer, who hit her at the knuckles jovially for not getting  the names of the birds right (Mr. Chinnappa himself!).

Early morning 5am we were divided into groups of 2s, Me and  Arun and Chitra and Akshay were given the Aiyur division. We sort of played a bit of politics to get assigned to the most dense region of the Denkanikottai forest range :).



Not until 9am did we actually begin our walk into the beats thanks  to the Forest officer who did not get the data sheets and was being  severely reprimanded by the DFO. He was asked to get back to the HQ to  fetch them and hence the delay. But we were sort of cajoled by the sightings of Yellow wattled Lapwing and the awesome guest house at  Aiyur that sported 3 cane huts and a watchtower.

Watch tower at Aiyur guest house

The forests of Aiyur division came as a different surprise all  together. The stretch of bamboo forests smoothly mixing into dry shrub forest to deciduous to kinda evergreen where the small springs flowed. However, the dense foliage left us no aerial view  hence, denied us of the pleasures of birding. Same with the direct sighting, Even if an animal stood a few feet from us, there was no way we would know. So great would be its camouflage, The only way  we would know, would be when it moved, which they wouldn't because they  know before they see us, of our coming. So much worse for us since we are not only denied sighting a wild creature but also totally unprotected. The Guards were very jumpy, they had a death of a  fellow guard in the hands of an elephant just a few days ago. We still made most of the time we spent in the forests, we have  preferred them over all and any paradise man has to offer. We covered a beat area of 3km, the guards did this measurement using a length of rope.

Flame of the forest tree

We did spot morph paradise flycatcher and red vented bulbuls and squeezed in so much talks in between. Arun has this vast enthusiasm for everything about wildlife and forests that kept me hooked in to everything he has to say. The best treat however was at the end, at the Sameri lake. We spotted a Grey headed fish  eagle and several drongos and barn swallows hovering lazily. The guards overcome with exhaustion dozed off underneath the bamboo clumps while we sat still for a long time in the shimmering afternoon sun enjoying the voices of the jungle. I had an eerie  feeling as if the jungle was observing us, appraising of what promise we held. Of whether we would stand true to our  conscience and protect her from our fellow beings. A vast feeling of sadness swept over me for seeing her helpless, of have brought  her to this state. If each one of us would wake up to the fact  that we are moving rapidly towards a doom, by depleting the  forest covers and killing the wildlife relentlessly until they go extinct, has upset the fragile balance of our earth, perhaps there is still some hope for us .

Sameri Lake

We arranged our stay with the DFO to stay the night at Aiyur guesthouse, so that we could be closer to the forests. The idea of returning to Denkanikottai simply did not tempt us. Evening brought us a flood of visitors. Mr. Prasanna (treasurer of KANS) ,  Mr. Jayaram and few others, mainly a journalist from Frontline , camera  crew were in the region, to shoot a documentary about KANS. We accompanied them to the Spider Valley. The view point at Spider valley is simply breathtaking. The rows of hill softly melting into one another, fog that refused to fade even at the height of  summer afternoon, the shrill call of the Black Eagle that flew in  circles above us all created a sense of solitude. Of being absolutely at peace.

Gutherayan silhouette from Spider valley

Next we hurried to take our places at the Samieri watchtower. Its generally predicted that at dusk the elephants gather at the Sameri  lake. However, owning to a large number of people pouring in, the noise levels could not be controlled and we had no such luck with elephant sighting. They must have known about our presence a mile away. Elephants are very sensitive creatures, though their bulk would make you think otherwise. They can catch movements, they pick up sound waves through the ground, through their incredibly sensitive feet. They are extremely smart too, like crows and chimps, they  learn very fast, no man made enclosure can keep them bound for long. Of late, elephants have become very aggressive thanks to the  poaching of the tuskers and drastic changes in their habitat. They  have lost their natural water places and feeding areas to the ever increasing desires of man. Elephants migrate to the same place every year. One time there is a sprawling green bamboo field, next  year a village has come up, what would you expect? And thus Man- Animal  conflict keeps rising. We need to realize that this place not only belongs to us but to them as well. We must learn to share.

That night we gathered our Binocs and did some amazing star gazing. Just when I was beginning to feel that buying a 10*40  binocs was the worst thing I did,  its so heavy, I can't hold it steady for more than a minute and as the experts say higher the power more are the disturbances magnified. I only realized its worth when we did Raptor birding and star gazing. Suddenly my much criticized binocs became a hot commodity! Thanks to Akshay we sat under the star lit skies and identified several constellations and satellites. We were simply amazed at the amount of stars clustered  in M31, the globular cluster in constellation Orion.

While the rest turned in early after a sumptuous meal given by the  forest officers at the guest house ( I tasted the most yummy rasam ever!) me and Arun took our positions at the watchtower to have a  glimpse of the much hyped Mottled owls that were resident at the tree next to the watch tower. Not until 12 or 1 am when we were  paying the least attention a huge bird swooped above our heads  into the night like some sort of grey ghost. The resident Mottled wood owl! We tried unsuccessfully to go out for a night stroll. The Guards were simply not taking any chances, they had closed the main gates during the night and hoped the trenches all along the guest house borders would keep the elephants from crossing.

The next morning's birding brought another string of surprises, I saw my first ever Indian Pitta. Tiny bird colored in green and the most vibrant blue on its rump and saffron on the vent. We walked right from the guest house until the Sameri lake, a stretch of 5km. Our faithful companion or must I say our Canine guard, the dog at the guest house who I have fondly named Courage, the silly  dog :) kept us company all along, sniffing the trails before we  reached it. No new sightings, though we did have fun since the  guard kept forgetting the way and took us amidst the the thick bamboo groves and thorny lantanas. But as it goes we had no luck  getting lost since he kept turning and we ended up on the road  again and again. We finished our last trail again by ending up at  the lake and observing the Grey headed fish eagle.

Thus my trip to the Hosur forest winds up by us returning to the  Hosur cattle farm and giving a few details of our sightings to Sanjeev and returning to Bangalore at around 3pm.

And what follows is disorientation. Like its told in 'Gods must be crazy' re-adapting to the ways of man.
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Melagiri

October 13, 2010, 11:17 pm
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A troop of five people descend down the narrow trail juggling their glances between the sky to look out for birds, the trail to look out for scat and pug marks and everywhere else to soak in the heavenly view of the towering hills all around. The call of the Common Hawk Cuckoo also called the Brain Fever Bird reverberates all around.

We are the members of a Kenneth Anderson Nature Society, named after the erstwhile legendary hunter turned conversationalist Kenneth Anderson who roamed these very forests of Melagiri. The Melagiris are a range of hills on the Eastern Ghats, bound by the river Cauvery on the west. The total reserve forest area is around 1295 sq. kms. Inspired by the stories of Anderson the first KANS members ventured into these forests to feel the wild in first person. Over the years however the forests have been infiltrated by the locals for cattle grazing and to obtain the forest produce. The reserved forests are shrinking at the rapidly encroaching agricultural lands , the fauna disappearing by the unrestrained poaching activities.

KANS decided to take on the task of securing this habitat for the Tiger, to restore the region back to its original state.This is being achieved through a mix of passive and active conservation activities like community interaction programmes (afforestation, educational programmes, alternative agricultural practices), equipping the ground forest staff (uniforms, torches), field work to control Man-Elephant conflict, removal of invasive species etc.



Last weekend saw the the bio-diversity survey conducted at Anchetty, The objective of the surveys have been to take stock of the forests. To bring to public light the beauty and diversity of these forests and also highlight the socio-economic issues facing conservation in this region. The inventory of the species and inputs on the human-forest interaction issues are to add in to help to achieve the goal of securing Sanctuary status to the Melagiris.(Note: The proposal has not yet been submitted)


As we reached the bed of Dodahalla river, that has been a witness to the glorious past, a time when Majestic Tigers roamed this land, a time when Kenneth Anderson set float his hair raising adventures, We grew excited as we IDied the pug marks of leopards. At least one of the bigger carnivore has escaped the same fate as that of the Tigers, although that could be due to the fact that leopards are tinier than its cousin, have an excellent camouflage, very shy but intelligent creature that can live on smaller prey base and very adaptive. We also spotted pug marks and scat samples of Civet, Chital, etc.,However our joy was shadowed by the presence of large amount of Cattle dung scattered everywhere in generous quantity. Cattles are a menace to the forests. Their rampant grazing not only means less grass cover, dwindling the wild herbivore population but also causes seasonal outbreak of diseases to which the wild animals have no resistance. The tigers in this region have been single-handedly wiped out largely by the locals by poisoning the cattle kill (Tigers finish their food in several sittings thus becoming an easy target.) diminished prey numbers and a variety of other reasons due to the never ending interferences by man.  If the forests are to be revived their is no go but to stop cattle grazing withing the boundaries of the forests.

We trekked a stretch of 8km approx along the Dodhalla river that is being fed by several small streams originating in the forests. This river finally joins the Cauvery, that forms western boundary of the Melagiri forests. While the forests on the other side of the Cauvery within the Karnataka state borders are Sanctuary the Melagiris are only Reserved forests. While the protection provided by the Sanctuary tag has helped sustain the Tigers in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary they have vanished from the Melagiris.

The Tiger census that yielded the numbers 1411 has created a huge wave of alarm and people across the country have risen up in arms to protect them by raising funds through running marathons and what not. While money is continuously pouring into already protected Tiger Sanctuaries securing them and tightening the protection, we have sadly not hit the mark. The numbers 1411 are of the number of tigers that can be accommodated in the Tiger Reserves. You cannot stuff in more, in fact the recent Tiger Cub deaths we have been reading are by the Adult Tigers is to reduce the competition for territory. Internal fighting have become common, the excess tigers have began to search for new territories and are frequently seen on the fringes of the Sanctuary boundaries inadvertently going for the cattle kill and what happens? A Ranathambore episode is inevitable. Man-Animal conflict is on rise. And here its just not Tigers, Elephants are seasonal migrants. They do not recognize the boundaries set by man.

Bannerghatta National Park (BNP), Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS), Nagarhole (Rajiv Gandhi NP), Bandipur Tiger reserve, BRT and the Hosur forest Division ( Melagiris) forms a continuous region making it a major bio-diversity belt and Elephant corridor. With Melagiris assuming the Sanctuary status, the excess Tigers from The CWS, BNP and  BRT can be soaked by this region. This indeed is an viable option since securing the Melagiris is cheaper than trying to extend the already existing tiger reserves that have swarms of villages littered on its fringes. Not only the Elephant Corridor is secured minimizing Elephant-Human conflict but also sustains the life-source of Karnataka-Tamil Nadu, Cauvery.



With the Anchetty Survey, ends the last of the bio-diversity survey by KANS. KANS with ANCF has found both direct/indirect evidences of the rare Grizzled Giant Squirrel, Four horned Antelope and Leopards. The Flora contains almost 20 Red listed species, these were discovered during the survey, considering the Melagiris are almost 1200sq km (An area covered by putting Nagarhole and Bandipur together) there could be many more surprises waiting to be discovered. Unless this region is declared immediately with effect - Sanctuary, the poaching/ extraction of non-timber forest produce and infringement of the Forests by the local farmers and cattle grazers will only deteriorate them further snatching away the last chance for the Tigers in this zone to grow back to respectable numbers, increasing the Man-Elephant conflict , depleting the Cauvery - a death-blow to the farmers in Tamil Nadu and increasing tension between the two states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
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A night at Rasimanal Watchtower

October 13, 2010, 11:19 pm
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The last of the ground survey by KANS winded up at Rasimanal. Here is an account of the most wonderful time of my life..

Rasimanal Forest Guest house is around 2 hours drive from Anchetty. The narrow roads sneak up the hills and at one point gave a awe inspiring view of the valley. Tiny villages with hardly around 100-150 families have sprung up all along the way.

I tasted the most refreshing coffee and tea at a tea shop on the way that boasted a very interesting water heater, though I would say it was simply the lower part of water filter set up on a stove! The swooshing movement of mixing up the beverage with milk and water by the owner was worth filming!

 We waited at the last hamlet for the forest guard (who incidentally never turned up) for the guest house keys. When the waiting became intolerable a few of us started walking along the jungle path for birding, a few of the locals began telling me no to go any further as elephants frequented the path beyond the farm.  I would have loved to see some. As fate could have its last laugh I was again denied the elephant encounters. The heat of the afternoon gave way to the soothing evening breeze and my troop giving up the hope of the guest house keys collected the rest of the wandering gang and started moving towards RasiManal. Rasimanal belongs to the Anchetty range and here the Cauvery and Dodhalla meet up and continue their way into Tamil Nadu. With the pre-monsoon showers Cauvery had indeed swollen and was gushing away noisily.




You could feel it in the air that you were about to witness the unexpected. As is usual to me I floated away.. day dreaming wide awake. Wild Jasmine shrubs also called Kadu Mallige in Kannada littered the forest grounds profusely.. Its scent rose in spirals and set the scene of ancient Indian lore, For some reason I began to recount the tale of Shakuntala, that that lovely maiden must have sometime run around here with those wild flowers in her ear lobes..

We spotted a pair green imperial pigeon, my very first. Indeed a very beautiful bird found reportedly in the Western Ghats.The forest guard who accompanied us in the jeep prepared us for the sight of a half cooked elephant! Apparently during one of the beats last week they found a dead elephant , and had gathered dry twigs and set fire to the corpse. We found it alright, smelling it, meters away!



Finally we reached Rasimanal, my eyes all hooked at the Watchtower that guaranteed a bird's view of the valley with Cauvery just a few feet away. I accompanied the group that was hurrying to set the camera traps. We set a pair on the banks of the Cauvery around a kilometer or two from the watch tower. There were these huge trees with white bark and roots that almost seemed like skeletons hugging the loose boulders and keeping them in place reminding me of the Angkor Vat temples in Cambodia. I am guessing they were  Dhindilu or dhindal , Scientific name Anogeissus latifolia belonging to the family Combretaceae



The Camera traps are motion detectors. When an animal crosses its range of detection, it sets off the camera that normally sleeps during inactivity. If I am not wrong the camera is active only for a period of 5 seconds in a minute. After a lot of circus to hold the camera facing the stretch that seemed to have seen a lot of animal activity we rushed back to the watch tower as it was getting dark and the time for the elephants and the nocturnal animals to come to the river bed. As we crashed back we almost lost our way. Its really a wonder how the forests guards can make out the way even during night. I can easily get lost on the back streets of my house! We were still discussing the camera traps when flash-flash something eerily silver seems to  have floated past and my heart simply jumped into my mouth.. On a closer look however they turned out to be trees whose bark had a lustrous silver sheen, I am not sure what they are called though.

Night fall brought a  lot of surprises including Mr. Thillai god-bless-him who brought food . During the time the whole troop devoured the fish curry and idlis I sat at the foot of the tower facing the river and the forests listening to light music and watching the greatest drama ever unroll, Nature unleashing its power.

As minutes trickled by dark clouds began gathering at the horizon that until now did not even have the white clouds , wind that ever so gently lifted tufts of my hair began to blow in real earnest almost pinning me to my side. The entire forests quivered in unease as the unrelenting winds grew in strength and a thunderstorm began to brew and very soon lightning forked the skies and a series of ear-splitting thunders rolled almost making you shiver at its intensity and cower in fear. For almost a hour this continued with no sign of relenting and giving way to rain, and we gathered on the watchtower's roof almost scared to stand at full height for fearing the lightning strike us!

And then with a whispering that grew louder than the howling wind it began to rain. Some of us staggered into the jeep some into the safe sanctuary of the watch tower and the rest of us filed on the side of the watch tower that provided at least little bit of shade from the onslaught of the rain. We shivered and laughed enjoying the whole scene like little children enjoying ice-cream.. We talked into sleeping all the adventures we have had every time peeking at the river bed for the sight of the crocs. The over crowded watch tower that day welcome eight of us tightly packed with me, the only girl in the group asleep facing everyone's feet!


Just imagine a perfect morning, a vast blue flushed sky , a mighty river with sandy bed and dark smooth stones jutting into her and you bend down to wash your face with the cool water. I wished my every morning would start that way! Me, Guru and Somyajit walked across for about 2 hours birding and we were lucky to see the Crested Hawk Eagle, a pair of otters who almost sauntered very close by finally beating a hasty retreat realizing our presence.


I almost ran back to the watchtower remembering Thillai's promise for a tasty Maggie for breakfast. Guru made a watery albeit tasty maggie noodles scorching Thillai's shiny vessel with black soot from the make-shift stove we made using half dry twigs and some bricks.

And there ends my most memorable day so far, rested between those soft hills and those dark angry clouds for ever.
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Threats to Melagiri forests

October 13, 2010, 11:19 pm
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A strong odour of cattle dung hit us even before our eyes caught sight of it littered everywhere like shopping freaks in Bangalore's Mall. And here we were  in the middle of a thick scrub jungle come to do a census on the flora and fauna of the Hosur Forests also called as Melagiris. Kenneth Anderson Nature  Society together with Asian Nature Conservation Foundation have taken up several surveys in this region that spreads over an area of almost 1200 sq kms  containing a mix of several vegetation but mainly abounded by the dry scrub forest to study these forests and restore the region back to its original state.




These forests  face manifold threats and perhaps the one by cattle grazing tops the list. Cattle here are grazed in large numbers and pegged down in large  cattle-pen called pattis. The absence of large carnivores and a blind eye by the forest department has made the Hosur forests a cattle grazing grounds for  the locals. There is a suspicion that the cattle that's been grazed belongs to the wealthier families in Tamil Nadu living far away from Hosur employing the  services of the local. While the locals are allowed to graze cattle and sheep, grazing goats is illegal, though one can frequently come across goats grazing  in the Melagiris. This has been made illegal because while the cattle/sheep feed mainly on grass the goat eats up tender shoots thus denying the forests to  rejuvenate.

Chital that is so abundant in the other side of the Cauvery, on the Karnataka side, that you yawn when you sight herd after herd thudding away in your wake  has in this region become a sight to feast on. So why have the herbivores been thinning out even as the forests remain? Answer, human interference and Cattle  Grazing. These herbivores have been hunted down for meat and skin. Also since they naturally avoid man increased human interference has made them to flee  these forests. The dwindling grass cover by the cattle even as it sprouts and the foot and mouth disease, poaching for meat has all played a major role in  wiping out the larger population of the herbivores. With such a small prey base and poaching has wiped out the tigers, not to mention cattle-kill poisoning  carried out by their distraught owners long ago. Although we have recorded pug marks of leopards and wild dogs, tigers and hyena have are no longer to be  found although the locals claim to have seen one or two a while.



Thick lantana jungle has sprung up everywhere wiping away the native plant species. Its likely that these dry bushes catch up fire at the slightest chance  building up into a roaring furnace and destroying the forest. KANS (Kenneth Anderson Nature Society) has drawn plans to employ locals to remove this invasive  weed from the roots. However no amount of de-weeding can remove them forever, the seeds of lantana are spread by birds and need but a brief spell of rain to  grow back to numbers. A sustained effort over time only can put a cap on the lantana jungle.


Man-Elephant conflict is on steady rise. The Elephants have taken to crop-raiding due to a variety of reasons - perhaps because the farms have replaced their  original forests? or because they face shortage of food within forests due to expansive cattle grazing? Some also say the Elephants have taken a liking to  easily available farm produce while others vehemently deny it stating elephants are shy of humans and do everything in their power to avoid human habitation.  And having experienced that first hand I must say I agree with the latter belief. Human death toll is getting higher too. Unwary locals and forest guards  have been trampled by bulls occasionally.

At several places Villages have taken permanent residence within the forest boundaries. Re-settling these villages from the Melagiris is essential to give  the forests and wildlife a chance to revive. However this is a very sensitive issue, the tribals in this region have been living in the forests are called  Poojaries and have since time immemorial developed a culture that is deeply associated with the forests. It is indeed very difficult to separate the  original settlers from the new families that must have taken residence in the recent past. A fair approach must be followed and enough compensation must be given for the families  to persuade them to move out of the forests. A few of the natives could be soaked in as the forest staff as their knowledge of these forests is exhaustive and indispensable towards studying and protecting them.

The locals have been using the forests to extract a variety of forest produce including firewood, tamarind pods, honey to list a few. KANS has drawn up plans  to provide LPG gas to the families to cut down on the firewood gathering. Farmlands are extending their tentacles into the forest lands steadily. When the  Melagiris assume Sanctuary status, with enough security, it can be said that Timber extraction, poaching and such illegal activities can be capped.

Reckless Tourism is another contributing factor. Although Melagiris are relatively unknown patch of forests it can be predicted that with all the  conservation activities in progress, the limelight on the flora and fauna will inevitably attract a steady stream of picnic-goers. Already tourists are seen  loitering around. At a prominent lake where the elephants usually gather in large numbers at dusk tourists unmindful of the danger have been seen in groups.  Although there is no straight forward solution to the Tourism issue but it must be handled with caution.

Although the list of threats does not end here, they are not new. Our forests throughout India are reeling under the same tell-tale signs. We have only  around 3% land under forest cover protecting a fragile eco-system. New lands are almost impossible to secure for the already threatened plants and animals and  the majority of the forests in this 3% fall as reserved forests. The forest staff are few, they are underpaid and not well equipped to fight the poachers.  There are many problems and many more solutions. Today the cry of the hour is to guarantee the security of our remaining forests, to guarantee a life to the  many beasts and wild plants that abound our lands. The time is to act.
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Wildlife week celebration by KANS in Hosur Forest Division

October 13, 2010, 11:21 pm
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Day 01, 09/10/2010 - Nature Camp
As part of the wildlife week festivities, KANS conducted a nature camp for the students of Sishya and Titan School, Hosur at Aiyur eco-awareness camp.
The idea behind conducting this camp was to bring into sharp focus of the students the area of Melagiri, its history, diversity and to bring into them a sense of responsibility to protect this 1480 sq km area of forest cover falling into Krishnagiri district.

The students, a total of 9 each from the 2 schools were picked up from the Sishya School. On reaching Aiyur they were immediately taken to a short walk on the road leading to the Samieri lake from the camp. During the walk the students were made to listen to the various sounds of the forest and appreciate the diversity of creature that have made these forests their home. The students were briefed about spiders, birds, trees and the various animals that are found.




After breakfast the group of 10 students randomly picked trekked into the Manchi trails. The trek that began at 10am wrapped up at 2pm. The students prepared a checklist of all the birds , animals, butterflies they encountered. The students also learned to identify the animals by their pug marks, birds by their calls and flight pattern and butterflies by their patterns and colours.

They were intrigued by the call of Iora and Coucal and were enraptured by the beautiful Blue mormon, lemon and yellow-orange tip butterflies. The guide who is a local gave them an insight into the medicinal properties of the herbs and trees we saw on the trail. By the end of the trek, which covered a distance of around 6-8 kms the students could identify a lot of species and were ever more excited and repeatedly asked for continuing such camps. They realized that forests are inviolate parts of our existence, that their preservation is a must and took a bold stand of spreading this new awareness they gained.

After the lunch, sitting in a circle both the groups recounted their experiences and later we headed out to the view-point of the Spider valley, where Sanjeev, vice president of KANS talked to them into length about Kenneth Anderson, the Indian born Scottish hunter who once roamed these very forests hunting the man-eating tigers and leopards and rogue elephants, the former glory of Melagiris, how KANS came into being and how the students could help KANS conserve these forests. 

The students were encouraged to form groups at their school under the guidance of their principal and Sanjeev, which would then be directly involved in surveying the Melagiri in small batches. With the infusion the younger generation closer home, who feel a sense of belonging and responsibility towards these forests, Melagiris is bound to bounce back to  the state it was 40-50 years back.

The group then headed towards the Sameeri lake and patiently waited for more than an hour until darkness fell with silence, to catch a glimpse of the elephants. Unfortunately perhaps because of the rains they chose not to visit the lake.
Finally we wrapped up the camp with a 40 min sojourn into the secret life of Tigers and the conservation value and issues surrounding them by screening the movie 'Truth about Tigers' by Shekar Dattatri.


Day 02, 10/10/2010 - Painting Competition, theme - Wildlife


A total of nearly 10 schools in and around participated in the painting competition with a turnover of 467 students in the groups of LKG to 2nd, 3rd to 5th, 6th to 7th and 8th to 10th.
The painting competition took place at St. Joseph's higher secondary school in Hosur and jointly conducted by KANS, HRT and HLC.




The theme of the competition was wildlife and an entry fee of 20 INR was collected. The enthusiasm among the kids was electrifying, from 9.30 to 11.30 the students poured out paints into their sheets and drew, painted and munched on the snacks provided. The registration and handling the students was organized such that it was ensured that each student was escorted back by their own guardian. The panel of judges consisting of Mr.Jaganathan (Art Master, Goverment Boys High school), Mrs.Usha Rani Sridhar ( Civil Engg. BITS Pilani, trained in fine arts and conducts classes in Hosur), Mr.Gowri Shankar ( Drawing master fromTitan watches) and Mr.S.Shiva( Drawing master, winner of top 30 WGC jewellery designers and founder of March Arts Foundation ,Hosur elected a 1,2 and 3rd prices plus 5 consolation prizes in each category.


And the team..

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Urigam Ground Survey - January 2010

October 18, 2010, 5:12 am
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A couple of months back I had registered with KANS(Kenneth Anderson Nature Society) as a volunteer. Never thought they'll respond but they did, two months later. Got a mail asking me to come for a ground survey of Urigam, a place in the Melagiri range of the Hosur forest division. So off I went on a friday evening (left early from office), got picked up by a couple of guys who were going there by car. Reached Ancheti forest guest house by 8 in the night.

After exchanging pleasantries with the rest of the group(14 volunteers), we were briefed on our itinerary for the next day. We were divided into teams of two and would be accompanied by a forest guard during our hike through the forest. My teammate was a girl who was working with Infosys. We were given data sheets on which we had to record the data pertaining to direct and indirect evidences (direct-sighting or hearing animals; indirect-pug/hoof marks, scat/droppings etc.), covers to collect samples(in case of scat/droppings) and GPS(Global Positioning System) to record the exact spot where we found evidences. We had to collect these data while walking along a pre-decided trail. So everything set, we guys finally crashed for the day at almost 12 in the night, on the veranda, chivalrously offering the sole room to the two ladies in the group. I did have second thoughts about giving away the room as it started getting inexorably cold a few hours into the sleep.



Next morning saw us awake by 4:30 and getting ready quickly to set off from the guest house to our respective drop points. My team reached our start point finally at 6:30. We started with the forest guard assigned to us. The guard told me that our trek would be around 12 kilometers which I think was true coz we reached our extraction point only by 12:30 and it did seem like a good hike. Just at the start of our trail I saw a Crested Serpent Eagle, to me it was like a good omen, which would make my hike eventful. Spirits up, we kept moving forward. The first indirect evidences were hoof marks of Wild pigs(Sus scrofa) and Elephant(Elephas maximus) dung at an almost dry waterhole. Then we came across scat of Civet(unsure of the species) which I had to collect. Whoa! what am I talking about, pick up shit?! Yup, thats exactly what I had to do and I did it without a second thought; but then again ensured that I did it in the most hygienic way possible. I put my hand into one of the plastic covers they had given for sample collection and picked up the scat and then turned the cover inside out which made sure that I did not have direct contact with the scat but at the same time it ended up in the cover. After enthusiastically collecting this great piece of evidence, I realized the lack of a bag to carry it. So off went the cover full of scat into my army green cargo's knee pocket. Then took out the GPS, took a reading and recorded the observations on the data sheet. Later we found a lot of Elephant dung and scat of Wild Dogs/Dhole(Cuon alpinus). The Wild Dog's scats were quickly collected. Wild dog's scat is identifiable by the presence of hair(hair of its unfortunate prey). Then we also came across droppings of Bonnet Macaque(Macaca radiata) and Sloth Bear(Melursus ursinus). We also came across a strange scat which the guard claimed was of Wild dogs but I had doubts as it was completely white and without hair, which resembled that of a Striped Hyena(Hyaena hyaena). Anyway to clear doubts, this too was appropriately collected and recorded. During our hike we also found tracks of Sambar(Cervus unicolor), Spotted Deer(Axis axis) and also Sloth Bear. These were photographed like those of the wild pigs. Direct sightings of mammals during the entire hike consisted of only two- Hanuman Langur(Semnopithecus entellus), a troop of which were seen across a valley on another hill and a Spotted Deer doe. Other than mammals quite a few birds were also spotted. Happy with the data sheet being filled reasonably, we reached our extraction point to meet organizers. I excitedly told them about our experiences as to what we had seen and collected. Later during the day we met the other teams and discussed our findings. Some teams had found Leopard(Panthera pardus) scats and pug marks while others had seen Jackals(Canis aureus).

For that night, we were to camp at an Anti-Poaching Camp at Uganiyam, near the Cauvery river. On the other side of the river was Karnataka. The Karnataka side seemed better forested and the tell tale evidences of humans were less as it was a sanctuary whereas the Tamil Nadu side was only a reserve forest. The river bank in one area was littered with plastic left behind by Pilgrims who had come to a temple there for a festival; the sight was heart-breaking! Anyway did some light birding in the vicinity for a couple of hours while waiting for the other teams to arrive. During which time a couple of people went on a coracle ride and spotted the Smooth River Otters(Lutrogale perspicillata)!! After everyone got back, we settled down at the Anti-Poaching camp at Uganiyam. Here we chatted and cracked jokes and spent our time till around 12 in the night. Then some of us slept inside the camp building(me included), while others slept in their respective vehicles and some others, outdoors.

Early next day, I got up and did some birding with a guy who was doing project(MSc project) on birds. While birding we also saw a group of 4 Wild Pigs bounding away after hearing us. Soon after the birding, I handed over the data sheets, photographs and the samples to the organizers. I explained in detail whatever I had seen and collected. That brought my survey to a close. I was happy, elated and felt like I was in the air because I felt I had accomplished something; I had finished a task I was entrusted with, a task that I was more than happy undertaking...

Check out this article on Cauvery forests- http://www.flonnet.com/fl2626/stories/20100101262606400.htm
Arun also blogs at Idle Mind.
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Wildlife protection and enforcement training for the Hosur forest divısion

November 20, 2010, 5:40 am
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The team

As part of wildlife week celebrations KANS partnered by Wildlife First  conducted wildlife protection and enforcement training program for the Hosur forest divısion rangers and DFO, at Aiyur eco-awareness camp in Aiyur range in Hosur FD (Forest Division)



The training program was held on 19th November at the Aiyur eco-awareness camp,  hosted by the Tamil Nadu forest Division.  Praveen Bhargav, a trustee of Wildlife First, and a member of the National Board for Wildlife conducted the session for the  Hosur forest division rangers and DFO.  Around 35 Rangers from the Hosur FD, Dharmapuri FD's DFO, Hosur FD's DFO- Ulaganathan and CF (Conservator of forests)- Varadharjalu attended the program.




The following series of activities were conducted:

I.  Wildlife Protection:
  •         Explaining the importance of foot patrol, Mobile Patrols, Anti Poaching Camps and Check posts for the protection of the forests
  •       How to set up anti poaching camp and ideal number of such camps (3 per 100 sq. km)
  •       How to organize patrolling through patrols, tracks, etc., and gather intelligence through them
  •       How to tackle poachers, conduct raids.

II.  Wildlife protection enforcement
  •     Went through the key points in wildlife protection act, forest act and forest conservation act . (Like sections on filing cases)
  •     Detailed the process of lodging complaints and to make the case fool proof
  •     Interaction with the local police
  •     Detailed the settlement of tribal rights through various acts
  •     Through personal examples and citing various sources explained why the forests must be conserved.
 

The following event appeared in the Hindu, TN publication :
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article903270.ece?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4ce9d11bfcb32c1b%2C0

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First bird watching session by KANS

December 6, 2010, 5:40 am
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Twenty five students each from Sishya school and Titan school attended the first session of bird watching conducted by KANS on 28th november 2010. These sessions have been initiated to familiarise the students with the many species of birds that have made their home in and around Hosur and its forests. The students will also be educated about the behaviour and conservation of the  migratory birds that visit during the winter months.  KANS intends to conduct one session every month for the students from Hosur with the cooperation of school authorities who will appoint one teacher in each school for these activities.



The following activities were carried out:
1. A Slide Show on Common and endangered birds of India was presented by by Mr. Guruprasad Timmapur, a member of KANS at Titan School.  He also spoke about  the various services such as pollination and pest control performed by birds in general and also about some of the superstitions surrounding some of the birds.

2. The presentation was followed by a bird watching session at Sanamavu reserve forest on the outskirts of Hosur. The students, with the help of KANS members were broken into several groups and identified many common birds found in this scrub jungle. 

3. Finally a discussion was held with the children and they were given assignments to identify the birds in their neighborhood.
  
Deepa Mohan, who volunteered for the Bird watching session at Hosur gives us a photographic guide to the events that unfolded on the day here - http://deponti.livejournal.com/747580.html
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Global Warming Awareness Program at Nalanda School

December 6, 2010, 12:50 pm
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Cheerful students, wonderfully supportive staff and complete co-operation and interest by FD more or less summarises the  Global Warming Awareness Program KANS conducted at Nalanda School, Krishnagiri on 4th December 2010.

The first programme was tree plantation by the students of various classes. The students and class teachers showed keen interest in planting the 120 saplings arranged by Mr. Thillairasan with support from Mr. Palanisamy, Range Officer, Interface Forestry Range. This takes the total number of saplings planted in Krishnagiri region to 1620! Range Officer Mr. Shivaji, who was the Chief Guest for the event explained to all of us what each sapling is and what all are its uses.



Next, we all moved to the mini-theatre and Laxmeesha gave a presentation on Global Warming. He explained the problem in simple terms for the students and also suggested small but effective steps to fight the issue.

This was followed by the screening of Shekar Dattatri'sThe Truth About Tigers. Those collective gasps during the 'violent' parts of the video (tiger's hunt and man's poaching) and the soft giggles when the video was showing the playful tiger cubs is a huge encouragement to extend this activity to other schools as well. Later, on seeing the English version of Truth About Tigers, Mr. Shivaji asked us for the Tamil version to show everyone at FD and we promised we will get a copy of it and send it across.














And, these cheerful faces were the best part of the event.

Rest of the pictures can be found here in our photo-stream: http://picasaweb.google.com/ka.naturesociety
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Call for Volunteers: Minimising Pollution at Dabaguli Jatre

January 21, 2011, 12:35 pm
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Dabaguli is a picturesque place on the banks of the Cauvery in the Urigam forest range of the Hosur forest division. An antipoaching camp of Tamilnadu forest department and a small shack housing a fisherman family are the only human presence for most part of the year. A small Nandi temple is the only relic from times long ago when Dabguli hosted a cattle patti (kraal).

This sleepy little temple sees a thin stream of visitors throughout the year. However a huge crowd of about ten thousand people descend on this idyllic spot from surrounding villages in Tamilnadu and Karnataka for the annual Dabguli Jatre (festival) around the time of Shivrathri. This grand overnight event has various poojas, dramas, Harikathe etc.
This is a cause for concern as these environs are home to the highly endangered Grizzled Giant squirrel and a host of other wildlife including chital, sambhar, elephants, leopard, wilddogs and sloth bears. Theplastic litter left behind by this crowd is not only an eyesore but also a big environmental threat.

This year, the festival is marked to fall on the 5th and 6th of February, 2011. Kenneth Anderson Nature Society (KANS) has been interacting with the organising committee of the Jatre to contain the environmental impact. The villager folk and the organising committee sincerely acknowledge the pollution caused by the event. KANS' presence, participation and efforts to tackle this problem will help further sensitize them to the problem.
KANS has convinced the committee to use bio degradable arecanut leaf plates instead of plastic and thermacol plates to serve the 25000 meals that will be dished up during the festival. KANS will subsidize the cost of the plates and also bear the cost of commercial firewood instead of jungle wood used to cook these meals.
A screening of the Kannada Version of 'Tales from an Indian Jungle (the one about Nagarhole) is also being planned at the spot during the festival.

We require 20-30 volunteers during to carry out this program. The major task will be disposal of plates and plastic. The proposed itinerary is as follows:
  1. Assemble at Anchetty Guest House on Friday, 4th February Friday night.
  2. Proceed to Dabguli on very early on Saturday morning.
  3. Stay over-night during the festival.
  4. Come back on early Sunday evening.

Points to remember:
Dabguli is deep inside the forest on the banks of the Cauvery. There are no sleeping facilities or toilets. Please carry enough water and sleeping bags/mats. Weather can turn chilly and dewy at night so carry enough warm clothes and cap. Volunteers will have to make own transportation arrangements. Venue is approachable by 2 wheeler/car.

Route from Bangalore: Bangalore-Hosur-Denkanikottai-Anchetty-Tagatti-Hunsenhalli-Belpatti-Manchugondanahalli-Dabguli

If you are interested in being a part of this, mail in to ka.naturesociety@gmail.com on or before Tuesday, 25th January, 2011. If you are coming by your own vehicle, kindly indicate how many more volunteers can join you from Bangalore/Hosur. We will get in touch with the team with detailed route and availablity of car-pool, on Wednesday, 26th January, 2011.

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Uniform Distribution

January 25, 2011, 12:57 am
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The villages in and around Hosur Forest Division have regularly experienced crop depradation by elephants during the months of Nov-Feb. A program was conducted at Hosur on Dec 29, 2010 to compensate the farmers who have suffered crop loss. The same event saw the Hosur FOrest Division setting up a crop depredation squad of 30 watchers who would be dedicated to assist the villagers in driving the elephants back into the forests. KANS contributed to this endeavour by donating uniforms to all the 30 watchers. The kit comprised of shirt, pant, cap, belt, sweater, monkey cap, shoes and socks. These were distributed to each of the watchers by the Hon. Forest Minister Mr. N. Selvaraj. At the same event, KANS Vice-President Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, also handed over a memorandum to the Forest Minister highlighting the importance of conserving the Melagiri forests.
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Plastic pollution control at Dabguli, Urigam forest range

February 9, 2011, 10:36 am
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Dabguli belongs to the Urigam range in Hosur Reserve forest under the Tamil Nadu Forest Dept. Situated on the banks of the river Cauvery surrounded by hills on the one side from Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary a haven for the wild animals, especially the elephants that descends down to quench their thirst.

A temple dedicated to Basava stands on a bare hillock in Dabguli.  This temple sees a trickle of devotees descending down throughout the year. Every once a year around the time of Shivaratri a gathering of 15-20 thousand people swarm this once peaceful region to be a part of the Jathre organized by the surrounding villages for 2 days.
During the rapid survey conducted jointly with the Tamil Nadu Forest Department,  Kenneth Anderson Nature Society who has been devoted to conservation activities in this region, witnessed Dabguli littered profusely with all the paper and plastic waste. KANS took up the initiative  to minimize pollution the next year, 2011. KANS requested the planning committee of the Dabguli Jathre to use plates made out of leaves as against paper/plastic plates. When the committee pictured financial constraint as reason to opt the plastic plates, KANS bore 50% of the costs for the Areca leaf plates and secured a vendor as well to buy 30,000 plates. The Dabguli committee who appreciated our concern dug up pits at several places to collect the plates for dumping.


 On the D day a team of 21 KANS members placed  banners urging the pilgrims attending the Jathre not to litter the sacred forests. Additionally they set up baskets made out of jute in front of the shops that had mushroomed in the wake of the jathre to collect the plastic waste arising in the form of tea cups, bags, ice cream cups etc., KANS also screened the movie " Nagarhole Video - Tales from an Indian Jungle" by Shekhar Dattatri, to the audience to bring home the message of conservation. The following morning the volunteers spread out and collected all the plates and plastic waste scattered and dumped them into the pits.

One of the many concerns that arose during the Jathre and that needs serious attention from the forest department were the procurement of fuel-wood which was collected without abandonment (Remember nothing goes waste in a forest, the dry wood is home to many species)  Loudspeakers and music system that kept a steady stream of songs and talks throughout the 2 days and the wandering tourists who camped anywhere and everywhere recklessly.

The forests of Dabguli have been seriously hampered by the stream of tourists who disregarding the laws of the forest, camp here without obtaining the permission from the FD and cause a lot of disturbance to the local fauna, a jathre in such big scale with ambitions to billow out into a cattle fair, building guest houses, renovating the temple in grand scale, laying down a tar road plus electricity will be a death blow to the already suffering forests of Hosure FD.


Prasanna Vynatheya gives below his personal experience volunteering for the Dabguli pollution control 

Malarnthum Malaratha ………… Nadiyum vilayadi kodiyu kalaisaindi …
http://www.dishant.com/jukebox.php?songid=18807
 
  Song from the past came drifting through the forest across the Cauvery as the sleep too came drifting in snatches, it was well past midnight. We were all tired, tired of the last lap of 7+ kms through the tough terrain running parallel to the river. Yet, all smiles and talks amongst 23 of us as we rested under the beautiful starry night.
 
  A little romantic but that’s it, just to give you the background. Yes the song was Tamil that came floating at Uginiyam, whereas 7 kms away at Dabguli it was all Kannada; yes Kannada songs, Kannada announcements, Kannada skits and drama, though it is Tamil Nadu officially.
 
  The Dabguli Jatre (Fair) is being celebrated only since recent times (some say 5 yrs ). Otherwise Dabguli was a very lonely stretch of Cauvery river tens of kms downstream from Mekadatu. In our previous trips we have recorded rare & disappearing species as Four horned antelope, Grizzled Giant Squerril, Otters etc at this very region.
 
  Despite the last 14kms of muddy track through thick forest, there were around fifteen thousand people from the surrounding regions. They had come in small and medium trucks, tractors and the usual two wheelers to this Jatre.
 
  Families found rocks and stones to sit and watch the proceedings that started with the usual inaugural address from the few organizers, followed by variety entertainment that was preceded by our KANS projection of Nagarahole.
 
  There were about five Swamyjis on the stage and all of them spoke too, plus the three to four persons from the organizing group. From their talks one thing was certain; they all wanted this Jatre to be held every year and with more and more pomp and festivities. One of the Swamijis made a loud appeal to all
·        To focus their energy to make his dream of including a Cattle Fair at Dabguli.
·        Another Swamyji said he was looking forward to contribution from the people to help them build facilities for the devotees.
 
  But two swamyjis strongly condemned the drinking that was rampant all around that place even on the day of the Jatre. To quote his exact words ‘Inside the temple I got the smell of incense and when I stepped outside it was all alcohol’. The first Swamyji who spoke, begged the gathering to keep the place’s sanctity, and to make this a place of pilgrimage, to come there to desist and getaway from their vices, and, not make it a place for vices.
 
  In a way it was heartening to hear the Swamyjis boldly condemning the sordid practice of consuming alcohol in that sacred place, and at the same time it was a revelation to know that these indulgences happen to a great extent even at this place where the primary reason for visiting the place is for the Temple of Basava (Shiva’s vahana the Bull)
 
  There was power graciously granted by the Electricity Board, the road was being improved, and there was talk about building guest houses etc. for the devotees. It is not difficult to surmise that it is only a matter of time before this quite stretch of Cauvery will become another Mekadatu or Muthatti. Well friends let me tell you that when a group of us managed to reach Mutthatti on bikes in 1975 or 76, we were the very first of the visitors to do so on bikes. There was nothing there except a small temple amongst huts. Today I believe it is a popular picnicking place, spoilt by plastic and garbage and of course noisy people.
 
  My intention of recording these things is to give us all a clear understanding of what is happening there at Dabguli. What was also heartening though is that we managed to arouse in them a feeling of responsibility towards the environment. This was more than once emphasized by the speakers on the dais, who constantly kept requesting the gathering to keep the place clean and not to litter all around. We have scored a definitive point in that sense.
 
  As it stands, given the turnout at the Fair and the voice of determination of the organizers and the supporting presence of the Swamyjis, we can deduce that it is definitely going the way that we at KANS dread to think.
 
  Another song that floated upstream was again a very old Tamil song that goes like ‘sailair aluva silair cerepa, Naan aledekonde cerepae’
 
 My dear tamil friends please forgive me for any misspellings or distortions in the above lines.
 
With growing concern
Prasanna
Jatre happened on: 5th& 6th of Feb. 2011
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Synchronized Mammal Survey 2011

March 9, 2011, 12:11 pm
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We have just received information from the Tamil Nadu Forest Department that the Synchronized Mammal Survey in Hosur Forest Division will be conducted on the 19th and 20th (Saturday and Sunday) of March 2011. They have requested our help and participation.

This is an excellent opportunity to explore and experience this vast forested area which we hope will soon be made a wildlife sanctuary. We request your participation to make this a successful survey.


How to Register

To register for the survey, kindly fill in and submit the following form:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDJpXzBHMlVQYlFneElJcXNFQzdud1E6MQ
(This is to avoid sending unnecessary emails to people in our volunteer database who will not be participating in this Mammal Survey)


Arrangements
  • Volunteers will have to report at the DFO's Office, Near Cattle Farm, Mathigiri, Hosur on Friday, 18th March at 06:00 PM. The survey will conclude by 02:00 PM on Sunday, 20th March.
  • Volunteers will have to reach Mathigiri by themselves. Pick up and drops to transect points will be arranged by the Forest Department. However please do keep your own options in case you want to move around.
  • Volunteers will be accommodated in various FD guest houses and camps available in various ranges.  Lady volunteers will be allotted ranges with the better guest house facilities.
  • Packed food will be arranged by the Forest Department.
We will send further information on arrangements, detailed programme and survey methods, documentation procedures etc to the people who register on the above link. If you have any queries, send it to melagirisurvey@gmail.com
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Article 7

March 27, 2011, 1:15 am
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One Day State Level Seminar on Urban Green Initiatives for Environment Teachers
& Kenneth Anderson Memorial Lecture, 2011
Date : Wednesday, 16th March 2011
Venue : MLA Academy of Higher Learning, 14th Cross, Malleswaram Bangalore 560003

Report by Jayaram Karkala

The programme started at 9.30 A.M. with the welcome address by the Principal Dr.Padmaja.
The official inauguration was done by lighting the lamp, and a Kannada song on Mother Earth.

All audience took the following Nature Pledge:
We, who have gathered here today, take a solemn pledge
  1. To conserve and protect Mother Nature in all possible ways
  2. To be compassionate towards all creations including fellow humans, animals, insects, plants, trees, rocks etc.
  3. To conserve water and its resources.
  4. To reduce the use of plastics & leather.
  5. To recycle and reuse all nature resources as much as possible.
  6. To reduce pollution in all forms.
  7. To reduce carbon foot prints on our planet.
Jay, Secretary KANS spoke on KA and KANS .

Mr. B K Singh

Then Chief Guest Mr. B.K.Singh spoke on problems faced by Karnataka FD on man –animal conflict. He cited population growth and encroachment on jungles by people on the fringes of forests, as main the reason for such occurrences. He said that conflict of interest is there even in villages, where FD have spent lakhs of rupees for solar fencing. People have removed pockets of solar fences for their easy movement into forests for collection of firewood, honey etc. The elephants use this openings for raiding crops. He even stated that a recent experiment to relocate elephants from tea estates have failed after the elephants who were born in tea estates do not like forests and they come back to estates. Thus there are many problems, he said, unknown to public on man-animal conflicts. He cited that food crops like ragi etc should not be cultivated with in 5 kms of elephant corridors, to prevent elephant raiding crops.
Sri Suresh Heblikar
 
Kenneth Anderson Memorial Lecture was delivered by Sri Suresh Heblikar, who held the audience spell-bound by his oratory. His first subject was the loss of lakes in Bangalore. He said that he can show from records that 20 years ago all major lakes were connected together in with overflow systems. With the encroachment of real estate, all connections are cut and lakes have dried up. Even marsh at the edges of lakes was bio-diversity pockets in those days. With sand mafia’s activities, the lakes have disappeared. The next topic he mentioned was the influx of rural population to cities. The infrastructure requirements like water, power have reached exorbitant proportions, making it impossible for govt to provide them. He advocated basic needs of villages to be met, youth employment opportunities given in villages to reduce this influx. The third point he stated was that Tiger, being a glamorous animal, is being used by every conservationist in talks and plans. He insisted that saving bio-diversity should cover conservation of all animals, insects, birds etc, not the only just the tiger. His speech was well received by the audience.

Karthik JLR speaks

After a break, morning session started with session on Urban Ecology by Mr. Kartikeyan of JLR. He engrossed the students with his slide show and inimitable interesting interactive session. He told so many unknown facts about common insects, snakes, and rodents encountered every day by urban people. The audience, in future after this session, will see all urban insects, animals in a different perspective.

The next session was by Hasiru-Usiru team of Vinay Sreenivasa and Seshadri, with a slide show explained about trees of Bangalore and efforts taken by HasiruUsiru to protect through activism/appeals.

The next session was Shubha/ Karan of Biome- Solutions on Rain water harvesting. They explained in details various aspects, methods, and advantages of RWH.

A short film on KANS shown to the audience was much appreciated, as seen in feed back forms.

A nature quiz was conducted by KANS team of Girish/ Warrier. A prelim was done with 20 teams during lunch break, short listing 4 teams for the finals.

During Lunch break another short film on Sholas was shown to the audience.

Post lunch session started with ATREE team talking on Urban trees and their conservation. This topic was well received by the audience.

Nine teams presented papers for environment competition, and were judged by KANS team of Girish/Warrier/Nirmala.
quiz finals

The finals of Nature quiz was conducted in a very interesting manner with power point by KANS team of Warrier/Girish. The whole audience also enjoyed the quiz by participating and answering for questions which the finalists could not answer.

Feed back forms (designed by Girish-KANS) were collected back from all participants for analysis by the college authorities. They would inform us the feed back points in a few days. The successful, satisfactory Seminar ended with Vote of Thanks by Dr.Kalyani.
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Mammal Survey 2011, Hosur Forest division

April 5, 2011, 9:46 pm
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Hosur FD in collaboration with the local NGO, Kenneth Anderson Nature Society conducted the Mammal Survey in the ranges of Hosur Forest Division namely – Anchetty, Urigam, Denkanikottai, Javalagiri, Krishnagiri, Rayakottai and Hosur. Volunteers from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu participated in the synchronised survey. Each team with one or two volunteers and watcher/guard started on their pre-assigned beat in all ranges at 6.00 am exact so that no repeated data got recorded.


All volunteers underwent orientation program by the KANS range coordinators on the survey that covered the importance of conducting the survey, entering data during the survey, the survey methodology, the geography and history of the forests and the mammals in it, the do's and don't when in forest etc., The survey was divided into a 2 day event to collect direct and indirect evidence of the mammals.

On Saturday, 19th, the volunteers did a block count  by walking in criss-cross fashion through the beat area in the morning and sat patiently by a waterhole to count the mammals in the evening. The next day, Sunday 20th, volunteers collected indirect evidences in the same beat area via block count strategy in the morning. They recorded all hoof/pug marks and carnivore scratch marks. Line transect method was followed to record the elephant dung in the evening.
Overall the survey went smoothly and the data collected so far has been encouraging. Almost all the ranges saw good activity by the elephants with one team in the Denkanikottai coming across a herd of 17 elephants. Healthy Leopard activity was observed. Significant numbers of Gaur, Chital, Sambar and others were observed.


Images from the mammal survey are uploaded here : https://picasaweb.google.com/surveyphotos

The following are the reports that appeared in the newspapers:
Bangalore Mirror :  http://www.bangaloremirror.com/article/10/2011032820110328000229803984dc3a/What-did-you-spot-Elephant-or-dung.html
City Buzz : http://www.scribd.com/doc/52386766/CB-25-03-11-Page-12-13
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Grizzled Giant Squirrel and Four Horned Antelope re-discovered

June 27, 2011, 10:01 am
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The grizzled giant squirrel (Ratufa macroura) is a large tree squirrel in the genus Ratufa found in the highlands of the Central and Uva provinces of Sri Lanka, and in patches of riparian forest along the Kaveri River and in the hill forests in the Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of southern India.The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as near threatened due to habitat loss and hunting.

The (GGS) is a previously un-recorded species for the Hosur forest division (HFD). Specific search for GGS was made by researchers of Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF) after Mr.Ganesan former DFO of HFD expressed his deep conviction that this animal would surely be found along the riverine tracts along the Cauvery river. Sure enough, a number of nesting sites and a handful of individual animals have been recorded at various places by Dr.Bhaskaran, Saravanan and Senthil Kumar from ANCF through record shots of a single GGS in 2009.

Recently KANS member, Mr. Prasanna was fortunate to spot and obtain some good  images of the GGS.  Thus the GGS presence has been verified again.

 

Another species found in this region, the Four horned antelope (Tetracerus quadricornis), also known as Chousinga is listed as vulnerable under the IUCN Red list of threatened species. It is usually found near to perennial water sources since it needs to drink water regularly. Its preference to dry deciduous forests has exposed it to a lot of biotic pressure from MFP collection and livestock grazing.

Both these rare species have discovered in the Urigam and Anchetty ranges of the Hosur Forest divisions during the year long bio-diversity survey carried out by KANS with ANCF along with the TamilNadu Forest department.

A recent Frontline article by Dr.AJT Johnsingh recently conjectured that the four horned antelope was probably extinct along the Tamilnadu side of the Cauvery.   A dead specimen was also
recovered a few years back from the Udedurgam area of the Rayakota Range of Hosur Forest division.

 It is a cause for celebration that they are found in good numbers with as many as 30 defecation sites spotted along the banks of the Cauvery river.  The four horned antelope usually a solitary creature is regularly sighted in the Hosur Forest division as small herds of upto 3 individuals.

Recently  Dr.Ravi Raja Singh, son of the late Mr.Raja Singh who was the DFO of these parts in the 70s, also a KANS member sighted FHA.


 Its a matter of deep concern that these bio-diversity rich areas are under pressure from cattle penning, fire wood collection and Minor Forest Produce collection . The current DFO, Mr. Ulaganathan has taken a positive step by creating checkposts at points of entry to GGS habitat.  He has stepped up vigil and posted watchers, which was not there earlier.

 However, villagers and city folks alike have found these forests to picnic and hold social gatherings. Loud music, vehicle horn, human presence and littering of plastic and beverage bottles have continued to disturb the last refuge of the GGS in HFD. 

The common Langur is nearly extinct in this range and GGS and FHA may follow suit. The cry of the hour is  to take immediate steps to secure the future of these endangered species by addressing the immediate threats posed by cattle penning and human disturbance.
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