Woe betide the fate of the Abandoned Elephants in Andaman Nicobar Islands

 Wildlife Week Special

Abandoned Elephants in Andamans' Interview Island face neglect

By Malini Shankar 

Digital Discourse Foundation 

Imagine looting the habitat of the wild animals and then persecute them with such brute violence on innocent mute wildlife. This is how anthropogenic conflict manifests in the Indian agricultural landscape. Picture credit, Biplab Hazra, courtesy Wildlife Conservation Society, India.

Woe betide the fate of the Abandoned Elephants in Andaman Nicobar Islands

The fate of the abandoned Asian Elephants in Interview Island of Andaman Nicobar Islands (12⁰52’24.14”N 92⁰ 42’ 27.81”E) is at best non-descript. Given the lack of political will to protect what has been defined as ‘invasive species’ by the scientific community the lives of the endangered Asian Elephants are at stake in the forlorn volcanic islands, tucked away from the scrutiny of mainland conservationists and the Press.

There are also a lot of spotted deer or Axis axis too spread across the Islands. Since deer are also not native wildlife and that too without a natural predator their numbers too have increased exponentially in ANI.

“For recreational purposes, four species of deer - chital Cervus axis, barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak), hog deer (Cervus porcinus) and Sambar (Cervus unicolor) were introduced into the Andaman Islands around 1905-1940 (Tikader & Das 1985)” according to the Government of India report compiled by the Wildlife Institute of India in 2004 “Action Plan for the Management of Invasive Species in Andaman & Nicobar Islands” by Dr. K. Shivakumar et al.  Scientists like Dr. Shivkumar and the late Rauf Ali opine(d) that Island ecosystems are very delicate and cannot support non-native wildlife.

Without habitat protection, the number of elephants have dwindled. “At present it was estimated at 11 individuals but it was about 35 in 2004 (my survey in 2004 as well as by Dr Rauf Ali in 2001” says Dr. K. Shivakumar in an e mail interview to given to the author. It’s a manifestation of Survival of the Fittest  that island Ecosystems cannot support non-endemic fauna. But even protection of the Island ecosystem cannot help spawn the elephant numbers.

P.C. Ray and Co had shipped elephants to the remote Islands for timber logging operations back in 1956. There are no records in the public domain or documentation as to how and why they were shipped to the forlorn volcanic Islands in the Eastern edge of the Bay of Bengal.

With the forest department in Andaman Nicobar Islands refusing to speak up on grounds that “we are not authorised to speak” the need for transparent governance puts the lives of endangered wildlife at stake.

Relocating or translocating elephants and Chital – both extremely sensitive and emotional creatures – to the mainland Asian coasts of either India / Bangladesh / Myanmar / Malaysia / Thailand / Sumatra is fraught with extreme danger and India lacks the logistical requirements, sophistication and monetary resources for effective translocation. It is not on the political radar in any case.

Meanwhile, the elephants stare at death when the poachers aim their rifles at the harmless defenseless beasts of Interview Island. However, Islanders like Denis Giles this writer spoke to, believe that “poaching has come down at least in the last two years”. The abandoned elephants in Diglipur are accused of crop-raiding in and around the agricultural landscapes of Northern Andaman. Bursting crackers, shooing, and trying to scare the migrating elephants are legion in the amphitheater of anthropogenic conflict in India.

 

Two of the Elephants of Interview Island seen here. Photo Credit. Department of Information and Publicity, Union Territory Administration of Andaman Nicobar Islands

“The logistics needed would be an experienced team of veterinarians and elephant handlers (mahouts) to tranquilize the animals, and transporting them through the ship to the mainland, or of course maintaining them in captivity in the Andamans. I am only referring to the Diglipur elephants” says Professor Emeritus Dr. R. Sukumar the erstwhile chairman of the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

 

“The law makes a distinction between wild and captive elephants under the Wild Life Protection Act 1972, but I think feral elephants fall between these two categories and therefore in a grey area, with an unclear position about their level of protection. Questions around the legal status of elephants are beyond the realm of ecology - they are questions linked to governance/law etc”. says Dr. Tarsh Thekaekara of Dakshin Foundation, in an exclusive e mail interview to the author.

 

Worse, since the Asian Elephants are not native or endemic wildlife, forest staff turns a blind eye towards poaching. When poachers are caught with the trophy of ivory, depending on whether the forest officer is corruptible or not they twist the story, claiming it to be whale bone. 

The whale is also a protected species under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act considering it is an endangered marine mammal. Being native to ANI where there is more marine wildlife than terrestrial wildlife, whales enjoy better conservation status than these feral elephants.

 

Then there is the whale shark which comes under the protectorate of the Fisheries Department but the whale comes under the protection of the Forest Department… because it is an endangered marine mammal, unlike the whale shark which is an endangered fish. 

 

International wildlife smuggling syndicates use their front men in the sensitive ecosystem and a lot of native marine wildlife has been subjected to smuggling and poaching.  But smuggling of marine wildlife does not get the attention of the mainland Press for instance.

 

The Interview Island remains one of the uninhabited Islands save for some defense installations and a police check-post. But, pray, when it is an uninhabited island where is the need for a police check post?

When only invasive species of mainland wildlife thrive here on Interview Island why isn’t there a forest check post? Is it because non-endemic wildlife needs no investment? Not that the forest staff could check on the invasive species foraging on limited food or water sources for native wildlife. But surely they could police the forest wealth from poachers?

In any case, Darwin’s “Survival of the Fittest” is indeed manifesting in the ‘sensitive island ecosystem’.

One elephant was adopted by the Barefoot Resort in Havelock Island and was in charge of entertaining bikini clad travellers till it died of old age - a natural death in the past decade.

Rajan a 60 year old elephant was in charge of very glamorous tourists in Havelock Island's Radhanagar Beach till it died in around 2014. Picture credit: Malini Shankar 

Since then the elephants in Interview Island have multiplied, and gone feral. One small population of around half a dozen elephants found themselves in Diglipur and face conflict with the people especially in the Agricultural landscape. Again, none knows how they found themselves here. 

Crop raiding elephants antagonise farmers and face their wrath. Burning crackers, setting the elephants’ path on fire, scaring and scarring the sensitive beasts is legion in India… this kind of callous antagonism skews conservation against the interests of elephants. Developmental polemics in emerging economies belittle the endangered fauna’s right to exist against human hunger.   

Others aver that there are no natural predators so the feral elephants enjoy a status akin to being put to pasture, they are having a good time. The isolated Island community of elephants maybe, but there is some sense in what the scientists say. They have no migrating corridor or a diverse gene pool outside of Interview Island. That is what the scientists mean by ecological role.  

The Island ecosystem is considered very sensitive and does not support non-native fauna, or so the scientists have us believe. It is because of this one reason that scientists believe that elephants and Chital too – being non-native fauna should not live here.

This amorphous ecological stand against the conservation of endangered Schedule 1 wildlife has left the forest staff too disoriented. Poachers ran amok with negligent enforcement. Off the record, most ‘scientists’ say they are better off bumped off. Others believe that they are a peaceful lot without any natural enemies they are best left to pasture in peaceful surroundings. If indeed this is Eden for the pachyderms, they should not be subjected to neglect.

Dr. Shivakumar explains this maxim more eloquently. “More males sighted in 2004 but the current position is not known. I was informed that most sightings in Interview Islands nowadays are solitary. It reveals that the population is declining at a faster rate. Elephants are polygynous, by rule, in the polygynous species the population should have more females than males to sustain the better viable population. If we have more males then it would lead to collapse. Similar, observations have also been made in the case of wild buffalo population at central India where more males but fewer females (are found)”. (Italics mine). 

Despite the anthropogenic roots of the cause – introduction of alien invasive species, scientists and others who matter aver that they do not have an ecological role to play as they are restricted to one Single Island. If they are on one Single Island, the logic is that they do not intermingle with populations on different islands or sub-regions, limiting the interplay of the genetic pool for endangered fauna to flourish in a diverse gene pool.

Risks in translocation:

Translocating the elephants to save the blessed island ecosystem has its challenges.

1. Without a definite knowledge of the elephants’ numbers, one cannot even estimate the amount of tranquilisation medication or anesthesia for starters. 
2. Even if tranquilisation were to be hypothetically successful, capturing, and shifting the pachyderms to either a ship or a transport aircraft requires huge money for the logistics, trained personnel, cages, / kralls, trained and skilled scientists, and trained labour force. 
3. Tranquilisation has its risks in a small piece of land as the moment the dart touches the beast, it runs pell-mell till it falls and gets into sleep / comatose. 
4. What if the elephant runs off to the Sea? What if the tranquilised untamed elephants wake up during the transshipment? 
5. If the scientists are able to tranship the elephants to either ship or transport aircraft how do are they to be housed for the period of translocation? 
6. In case tranquilisation and logistics too are successful where do you take and discharge or release the elephants to? 
7. Myanmar’s coast is perhaps the nearest at around 200 – 300 nautical miles from the East Coast of North and Middle Andaman district where Diglipur is also located.  
8. “I am not sure whether Myanmar or Thailand will take our elephants, as cost of translocation is very expensive that was the major reason for leaving these elephants in islands while closing the timber factories,” says Dr. K. Shivakumar. 
9. But to translocate the feral / abandoned elephants to another sovereign country needs CITES headquarters in Geneva to intervene. 
10. Besides, there is the problem of habitat shrinkage in Myanmar for its own elephant population. Myanmar could not possibly host more elephants than its own neglected Protected Areas which already support its own population of elephants. 
11. Wildlife Law enforcement in Myanmar after the collapse of a modicum of Democracy in that country will at best be a pretense. 
12. The Thai or Malaysian coasts maybe a bit further and despite lofty scientific or ecological tenets like the intermingling of gene pool there is certainly the question of adaptation to habitat, were the Andaman elephants to be translocated successfully anywhere to mainland Asia. 
13. How to control, tame, and calm the beasts that may wake up on the ship?

“In my opinion the most prudent way of managing these elephants would be to first capture the Diglipur elephants and take them to the mainland or maintain them in captivity in the Andamans. This will eliminate elephant-human conflicts in the Andamans” adds Professor Emeritus Dr. Raman Sukumar, retired Chairman of the Centre for Ecological Sciences in Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, in an exclusive email interview to Digital Discourse Foundation.  That will also serve to teach lessons and give experience to the handlers.

If indeed a case is made against Alien Invasive Species on what grounds can it be justified to propose and execute a hugely expensive exercise to reintroduce the Cheetah from Iran and Africa when it was extinguished by blood thirsty Homo sapiens on its home turf in the Subcontinent? 

Feral or not… given the geological unpredictability of the Andaman Nicobar Islands, the gene pool of feral elephants may become significant at a future date post the next natural calamity.

Geological relevance:

ANI is a highly geological place and island ecosystem. It is necessary to conserve even feral wildlife because they will hold a future geological reference. The geological reference to the mammoth is a case in point… Or at a future date when sea levels subside ANI might become a migrating corridor of mainland Asia, helping the gene pool of these very feral abandoned elephants.  The case of Borneo's pygmy elephants is a case in point as regards the evolution of pachyderms in Island ecosystems. 

Besides, fossilised references to extinct wildlife in Kurnool’s Jwalapuram’s caves point to wildlife like Hippo, rhino, Giraffe, and Zebra (now native only in Africa) inhabiting the Indian subcontinent as well. 

Migrating corridors are influenced by geomorphological realities hence it is necessary to conserve and protect and translocate the so-called feral elephants of ANI. But, to err on the cautious side, it is better to first relocate the Diglipur elephants.