Press Release: March 23, 1999

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Letter responding to Indian Elephant Researcher R. Sukumar

The following is the text of a letter responding to Indian Elephant Researcher R. Sukumar's letter posted on the Internet on March 12th and posted to AR-news on March 22nd:

March 23, 1999

Dear Prof. Sukumar:

Since you call for “a more serious and mature dialogue” on the broader issues of elephant conservation, in your letter of March 12th to Congressman Sam Farr, we would like to know if the Pykara Ultimate Stage Hydro-Electric Project in the Nilgiris, that the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) scientists have researched, has been stopped. If not, why?

This project, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency findings, was actually cancelled by the Central Electric Authority because it was too expensive. But it was subsequently reactivated by the Tamil Nadu Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The BNHS reported that this hydro-electric project was totally unnecessary for the needs of the area, unless it was to be commercially developed. Located in the U.N.-designated Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, the project, according to the EIA summary of the BNHS research, has “already destroyed a vital elephant corridor, separating the Nilgiris population into two and ultimately leading to genetic decline.”

If you are simply studying the consequences of this ecological assault by vested interests bent on “developing” the Nilgiris, rather than confronting the corruption of law and of your fine Constitution, drafted by concerned Indian citizens, please be frank. Can you not confront them? If not, who will, and if not, then what of the elephants?

Those who express concern over the captive makhna, that Deanna Krantz, Director of India Project for Animals and Nature, whom you know, calls Loki, are seen by IPAN’s detractors and opponents as bleeding hearts or publicity-seekers. Some hidden agenda is suspected, even “part of a deeper and greater conspiracy”, to quote the treasurer of the Nilgiris Wildlife and Environment Association, Mr. A.C. Soundararajan, from the “New” India Express (March 11, 1999). But compassion has no hidden agenda. That is what IPAN stands for: The Integration of People, Animals, and Nature, based on the theology of panentheism. (See Fox, 1996) As you know, recent developments in the Nilgiris, if left unchecked, will mean the extinction for both the indigenous tribal peoples, with whom IPAN is closely associated, and for elephants and the last of the wild.

A second question needs answering. Who was behind the plan to import 15 young African elephants from South Africa to the Teppakadu Elephant Camp? According to the Tamil newspaper Jinna Mani (March 10, 1999), because of the controversy IPAN created over the makhna, that gave the Elephant Camp a bad reputation, the South African elephant exporters decided not to send the elephants to the Camp. Who was involved in approving the introduction of these African elephants into the Nilgiris, since it is known that these elephants can carry a herpes virus, to which they, but not Indian elephants, have immunity. The entire captive and wild elephant population in the Nilgiris could have been wiped out.

Dr. Fox, veterinarian, ethologist, and bioethicist, IPAN’s Honorary Consultant, has some regret that his book The Whistling Hunters *, along with some 40,000 other books and papers on the incredible bio-cultural diversity in the Nilgiris, may have helped focus the eye of greed on the Nilgiris. Or simply brightened it.

Your immediate response to the above questions would be appreciated. Your letter to Congressman Sam Farr, that some have seen as arrogant, defensive, pandering, and defamatory, has helped us better understand the difficulties involved in saving the last remnant of the vast Nilgiris elephant jungle.

Clearly, all who care need to work together to address the many social, economic, and conservation issues that Loki’s story has brought to light. Your involvement in the proposed cattle reduction project for the bio-region, drafted by Dr. Fox **, and with the support of the Gudalur Panchayet, which was presented last year at the symposium convened by the Mudumalai Wildlife Warden Udaiam, would take us beyond “serious and mature dialogue” to immediate and appropriate action. The high cattle population in the region is one of the major problems confronting wildlife conservation, elephants included.

* M.W. Fox (1996) The Boundless Circle: Caring for Creatures and Creation. Wheaton, IL. Quest Books.

Field Studies of the Asiatic Wild Dog (Cuon Alpinus) Albany, New York. State University of New York Press.

** M.W. Fox, M. Sugamaran, and P.T. Varghese. Wildlife Conservation, People and Livestock Problems, and Solutions for Masinagudi/Mudumalai (Symposium proceedings not yet published)