Letter from Professor Raman Sukumar to IPAN (4/22/99)

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IPAN
150 East Street
25 th Floor
New York, NY 10155

22 April, 1999

This letter is in reply to your Fax of March 23, 1999, and some of the stories carried by you, in your web-site in recent weeks, which have been brought to my notice. You have assured me that my reply will be carried without any editing if you choose to put this on your web-site. I would strongly urge that you do place this in your web site.

1. First of all let me state that after my two recent visits to Mudumalai, in March and in April, I am personally satisfied that the makhna elephant’s injuries have healed substantially as compared to the situation in August ’98. He has been treated well, fed adequately and shows no signs of trauma. An elephant, being a social animal, is much better placed at the Theppakadu elephant camp near the perennial Moyar river along with 25+ elephants, rather than at the 2-acre "IPAN sanctuary" where he will be in isolation. Handling domestic elephants, and that too former rogues, is a specialized and dangerous task. IPAN is not equipped to carry out this task.

The Veterinary Council of India has advised me that only a veterinarian registered as a practitioner in the state of Tamilnadu can legally treat an animal. I am certain that similar regulations exist in other countries including the United States. The elephant is the responsibility of the forest department of Tamil nadu and should remain so. I can assure you that the local tribal people who act as elephant mahouts have lived for generations amidst wild and captive elephants. Most of the present-day mahouts are third or fourth generation mahouts. I see no reason to question their love or compassion for elephants. Their bonding with elephants is far deeper than yours (or Nigel’s) or mine. A New Yorker may have superb skills to drive a Mercedes (you may substitute another brand if you wish) but let us leave it to a tribal in Mudumalai to handle this makhna elephant !

2. IPAN’s distortions are evident from their web stories. To state that the "Elephant Camp and Dr Krishnamurthy are linked with commercial interests in captive breeding and circus exploitation of elephants is sheer irresponsibility. Yes, the Theppakadu elephant camp, has had a very good record of elephant births in captivity. If you wish to state that there should be no captive breeding and that the present stock of 16,000 elephants around the world are allowed to die out, I suggest that you debate this issue with the wider community of elephant keepers in all continents (incidentally, we at the Asian Elephant Specialist Group are presently debating this issue and would be happy to receive your views).

Dr Krishnamurthy is in no way linked to "circus exploitation" of elephants. Yes, about three years ago, when Dr. Krishnamurthy was no longer in charge of the elephant camp, there was an elephant show for a brief period (3-4 months) which was halted at the insistence of Indian animal welfare groups. You must remember that the Theppakadu elephant camp has a long history going back to the early part of the century when elephants were used for logging (stopped 15 years ago). It has the best overall record for maintaining captive elephants. Where else have elephants lived up to 75 years (Tara), 76 years (Godavari) and 79 years (Peri) ?

3. In the same breath you state "and with an earlier grant of some $150,000 from the U.S. Smithsonian Institution to set up an elephant stud book for captive elephant breeding in the Indian sub-continent". A master stroke ! You cleverly hint that Theppakadu and Dr Krishnamurthly received $150,000 from the Smithsonian. Absolute rubbish. Is this a deliberate slight ?

4. Your report of African elephants to be "imported" to Mudumalai is untrue This is a good example of IPAN’s carelessness in taking an unverified newspaper report. How can we then trust other IPAN statements?

5. Continuing on the theme of funding from the USA, it is again fiction that the Indian Institute of Science or its affiliates has received funding from USAID for elephant research. I have no idea from where you got that "story". This is another example of IPAN’s careless research and "investigation". To take the story further, I must state (as present Chairman of the IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group) that our centre supports the IUCN’s specialist group and not vice versa.

6. Radio-telemetry: Dr. Krishnamurthy is NOT the veterinarian in charge of our radio-collaring programme. He was NOT on the team that carried out the darting of an elephant in Wynad. In fact, neither Dr. Krishnamurthy nor I accompanied the darting team which is appointed by the Kerala Forest Department. There is no question of the "wrong animal" being darted. The vet in charge decided which elephant to dart, based on his assessment of body condition, age, absence of very young calf, etc. There was no 2-month old calf in the herd at all ! The youngest elephant in the herd was over 2 years old according to the vet in charge, which was verified by me later. The question of giving a second dose or overdose of the immobilizing drug does not arise at all. I wonder to what length (or should I say depth) IPAN will go in order to discredit people.

Radio-telemetry is an established tool for ecological research. Hundreds of American biologists and equal numbers of biologists elsewhere use this tool to gather more precise and scientific information on animal species. There is obviously a certain risk involved in the operation, but this has to be weighed against potential benefits to the conservation of the species from the information gathered. The BNHS studies of elephant movements and corridors, which you have quoted, used radio-telemetry as the tool for their work. Incidentally, Dr. Krishnamurthy was the veterinarian in charge of the BNHS programme, and he successfully collared 7 elephants ! I suggest that you first begin a debate among American biologists about the need for radio-telemetry.

7. I am quite amused by your colourful descriptions of India’s "hungry elephants". I suppose that in a land of hungry people the animals must also be hungry. The simile is irresistible. India has an estimated 25,000 or more elephants in the wild, more than half the Asian population. The Nilgiris-Eastern Ghats alone have a single population of anywhere between 6300 and 10000 elephants, more than in any other Asian country, at ecological densities comparable to the highest in Africa. Need I say anything further ?

8. Conservation of the Nilgiris: Regarding our efforts towards conservation of the Nilgiris, there is no need for us to blow our own trumpet (the pun is unintended). Do you know that we were the first to oppose the PUSHEP (Pykara Ultimate Stage Project) by demanding the imposition of several safeguards ? We have actively supported the Forest Department’s efforts to curb any ecologically-destructive activity under the above project such as the proposed widening of the Moyar Flume Channel, by regularly providing reliable and objective data. This part has now been given up. During the 1980s, the Indian Institute of Science also prepared the master plan for the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The Ministry of Environment and Forests regularly seeks our opinion on most developmental projects posing threats to wildlife habitats in south India. Our credibility stems from over 20 years of pain-staking multi-disciplinary research in the area. Where was IPAN or Dr. Michael Fox for that matter during this period ? Yes, we believe that conservation should be based on science and not nonsense. In any case, the elephant population of the Nilgiris has NOT been fragmented into two as suggested by you. All the traditional corridors are still intact. If you want to know what our centre has been doing to protect corridors I suggest that you ask the Indian government or come here and talk to us.

9. Monsanto: I have little idea of Monsanto’s research (is it an American company ??). I suggest that you write to the Director of Monsanto to get more details. I work at the Centre for Ecological Sciences.

10. We are curious to know of IPAN’s work for indigenous people in the area as stated in your story. I would appreciate details of what IPAN has been doing for the betterment of local tribals.

11. I had spoken to the Chief Wildlife Warden, Tamil nadu, in August 1998, requesting him to consider accepting external assistance for the welfare of the elephant. This may have in part been responsible for the gracious acceptance by the authorities of assistance from IPAN (although I understand from the Wildlife Warden of Mudumalai that at a later stage all material provided by IPAN was paid for by them). In late December 1998 I understand that IPAN was refused access to the elephant. If any one has wondered why, it may be worthwhile taking a trip to Mudumalai to talk to local people living in the villages of Mavanhalla, Bokkapuram and Masinagudi. An assessment can then be made of their opinion of IPAN staff and their behaviour. I suggest that an unbiased American comes to the Nilgiris and finds out the truth for himself or herself. There will be some surprises as to why relations between IPAN and the forest department ultimately degenerated!

12. The most serious consequence of this affair has been the immeasurable costs in terms of man-hours for conservation activity. Forest department staff have been forced to divert efforts from activities such as anti-poaching and forest fire control to handling the controversy, the media and "tourists’ with hidden cameras ! (do you have any further news on this matter ?!).

13. I am curious to know whether IPAN have been collecting funds from their supporters since December 1998, when their access to the makhna elephant was stopped. The Statesman, Calcutta (3^rd April 1999) quoted Mrs. Maneka Gandhi, a champion of the welfare of animals in her own right : "She (Ms Fox) used this issue to raise money. My officials told me the elephant is doing fine. Yet, this woman continues to cry foul." I do not need to elaborate on this point. You may wish to clarify.

14. You state that some have seen my letter to Congressman Sam Farr as "arrogant, defensive, pandering and defamatory". May I state that many, including fair-minded Americans, see Dr. Michael Fox’s reports and your web stories in the same light. An Indian writing a polite letter to an American is seen as "arrogant", but not an American writing to an Indian. Hm………interesting. I suggest that you take a vote on this issue among American conservation organizations. Just send out my letter to Congressman Farr and all your material, and let them decide. Fortunately, there are many American conservationists who understand real-life issues of conservation in developing countries (indeed, the developed nations face similar or even greater conservation threats) and are willing to provide genuine assistance.

15. Finally, let me assure you that basically I too follow the theology of pantheism (not panentheism as you have spelt). Dr. Krishnamurthy and I have been vegetarians all our lives (except once when I consumed what I thought was vegetarian soup at an Iowa restaurant; it turned out to have a small amount of meat). We need not trumpet our compassion for animals. At the same time I am not a scientist living in an ivory tower – hence, my appeal that we should have a serious and mature dialogue on the broader conservation issues, especially when the lives of "hungry people and hungry elephants" are involved.

A shorter message will soon follow this letter. This goes into other issues about IPAN, its Director, land ownership and elephant corridors in the Nilgiris. You may be in for some surprises.

In the meantime, how about a small team of Americans coming over to the Nilgiris to investigate this matter for themselves ?

Yours sincerely

PROF. RAMAN SUKUMAR