Veterinarians in Kerala could soon start using darts to shoot chemicals into female tigers and elephants in the forests from helicopters to prevent them from getting pregnant for two years.
The shot animal would then be marked with a pink dye to identify it as being “vaccinated” despite the chances of the dye getting covered up in dust in two years.
The process, called immuno-contraception, is the latest strategy of the state government to address an escalating human-animal conflict in areas like Wayanad, Palakkad, and Idukki — by controlling the growing numbers of wild animals.
But the state government faces one hurdle before it can implement the plan: It needs the Supreme Court’s green signal.
This is because though the central government permitted immuno-contraception in wildlife in July 2019, the tiger was not part of the permitted list of animals that could be targeted.
Incidentally, the elephant was initially on the permitted list but was taken off following a Supreme Court injunction against sterilising them.
The Kerala government now plans to approach the apex court to get the injunctions lifted, the context being the recent killing of a 50-year-old farmer by a tiger in Wayanad.
“There is a (similar) case already in the Supreme Court, and we have decided to join as a party,” Kerala’s Forest and Wildlife Minister AK Saseendran told South First.
Swelling wildlife population
Though the Wayanad tiger has been captured, the government seems to have been forced into action by the rising demand for protection against marauding animals.
“The chief conservator of forests has already been entrusted with coordinating with lawyers to implead in the case,” Saseendran said.
The minister said man-animal conflicts were increasing as the wildlife population had “crossed the carrying capacity of the forests”.
“We adopted various steps to address the issue, but nothing worked,” he said. “So we are approaching the Supreme Court for permission for animal birth control measures.”
The state government wants the injunctions lifted on elephants and also deer.
According to him, immuno-contraception was a huge success in some African countries; the vaccination needs “hardly a few minutes”, and immobilisation is unnecessary.
“After the stipulated period, the animal can return to its normal life,” Saseendran said.
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Wildlife experts unhappy
While the state is moving ahead with the legal process, forest veterinarians, wildlife experts, and environmentalists are not sure this is the right way to go about it.
The reason being Immuno-contraception not used on tigers anywhere in the world.
Even in the case of Asiatic elephants, the possible repercussions of immuno-contraception have not yet been assessed, they said.
Wildlife scientist PO Nameer told South First that some monkeys that were subjected to immuno-contraception three years ago in Wayanad “died very soon”.
“No follow-up study was undertaken to determine how the chemical dart was detrimental in their cases,” Nameer said.
Environmental lawyer Harish Vasudevan also said the sterilisation programme involves enormous risks and repercussions apart from being in conflict with the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.
“Asiatic elephants and tigers are on the list of protected animals, and no state government can decide to initiate birth control using chemical darts,” Vasudevan said.
“The move is without any scientific study or validation. I view the minister’s statement as something to dilute the protests by people in Wayanad.”
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Loss of habitat
Vasudevan feels what is needed to address the human-animal conflict is restoring the vanishing wildlife corridors.
It is a view shared by others as well. For instance, a wildlife veterinarian — requesting anonymity as he works for the government — said the issue of loss of habitat needed to be addressed.
“In Wayanad and all other forest regions, habitat destruction became the sole reason for man-animal conflict,” he said. “Without addressing the issue of habitat loss, the government is playing to the gallery.”
Sterilising wildlife was a dangerous move that would “eliminate critical animals from the wild”, he said.
N Badusha, president of Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithy, an environmental protection group, echoed these sentiments, saying increased human interventions resulted in the loss of habitat for the elephant and the tiger, “keystone species” that protect the health of each conserved area.
“Why is the government not keen on restoring the lost wildlife habitats?” he asked.
Unrealistic, say experts
Apart from the repercussions, experts question whether delivering immune contraception from the air using helicopters is even possible.
“They say they will apply the chemical dart without capturing or immobilisation,” said Nameer. “But the canopies of the Kerala forests are so thick that locating and identifying female animals from helicopters is nearly impossible.”
Vasudevan too is sceptical. “Authorities are talking about Africa, but there are huge differences between forests there and here regarding geography, terrain, and the character of flora and fauna,” he said.
Echoing him is Anitha Sarma, a Thiruvananthapuram-based environmentalist. “Indian forests are different from African forests,” she said. “Adopting successful strategies from elsewhere looks good, but we have to take into account the ground reality.”
Academic and environmental activist J Devika similarly said she was sceptical, given Kerala’s “poor track record” in attempting massive sterilisation of stray dogs.
“Those who failed to manage stray dogs are now attempting to control the birth rate of elephants and tigers,” she scoffed. “They have to be realistic first.”
Devika said wild boar and peacocks, big threats to farmers across the state, have multiplied because of climate change and human factors.
“No expert committee was constituted so far to address this issue,” she said. “The government is barking up the wrong tree.”
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The original project’s specifics remain hidden despite several RTI queries from conservationists.
Wildlife experts say it would be impractical to mark the particular animal after it has been shot.
They also anticipate the chances of the same animal being shot multiple times. The considerable noise from helicopters would scare the targeted animal away, and it might hide somewhere.
Frequent moving of helicopters over forests would turn highly disruptive to the animals, forcing more animals to move out, further escalating man-animal conflict.
Wildlife scientist Nameer questioned whether Kerala had the expertise to execute the “complex” immuno-contraception.
“Currently, Kerala lags far behind in terms of technical and infrastructural facilities that can make immuno-contraception effective,” he said.
