Green Oscar award-winning filmmaker, conservationist Mike Pandey records the story in words and pictures

The first time I saw the tape of the capture of Basant Bahadur, a very young “rogue” elephant in the Jaspur Forest Division in Chattisgarh, I was amazed and very disturbed that a protected species can be treated so cruelly in this day and age. The fact that my team documented the trauma of the elephant on tape will help save other elephants from the same fate by gathering public support and creating awareness about the elephants’ plight.

Canvassing For Consciousness
As a conservationist, I produce films to generate awareness about our environment and wildlife, and hope to make a difference. My purpose in making ‘Elephants In Crisis’ — a documentary on the trauma of captured elephants — was to create consciousness about this largest land animal, which is slowly heading towards extinction. The film was scheduled to be completed a-year-and-half from now, but we stopped shooting midway because of the incident involving Basant Bahadur.

My team was in the field when they got a chance to film the capture of a herd of wild elephants that had strayed into Jaspur from the neighbouring states of Bihar and Jharkhand. Parbati Baruah, the elephant catcher of Gauripur in Assam, had been hired by the Chattisgarh Government to annex this herd, train them and then “induct” them into the forest service in national parks and sanctuaries for tourist transportation or other forest duties.

Getting Prepped Up
Jaspur is an undulating terrain filled with thick forests and is heavily populated. For about two months, the elephant catchers tried to trap the herd without much success. I am told since traditional approach of ‘mela shikar’ (this is an old method wherein rouge elephants are tired out by chasing them, then they are lassoed and bound) failed to wield the desired results, a decision was taken to opt for the chemical capture.

This procedure requires darting the elephant with tranquillisers that knock it out briefly, and after securing the elephant, an antidote must be administered within 20 to 30 minutes to save it from further distress. The chemicals used are powerful and the elephant’s body temperature shoots up as a result. Gallons of water must be poured over its body to keep the temperature under co ntrol and save the organs from damage.

According to my team, Basant Bahadur was first darted late in the evening on February 5, but he got away under the cover of the setting darkness. The next morning, two more attempts were made to tranquillise it. Once it collapsed, the capture team secured it with thick ropes and pulled it to camp flanked by tame elephants.

Captured And Traumatised
Capture always involves a lot of stress and trauma to the elephant. I have seen many captures in South India as well as other places, but never had I witnessed such primitive treatment. It was shocking to see the way Basant Bahadur was handled after he was secured. His fore and hind legs were bound together by several ropes and he was spread-eagled between two trees with a noose around his neck.

He was denied water and food for the first two days (even though water is very essential for the elephant to recover especially from the chemical-induced heat and trauma) with the express purpose of “breaking his spirit”. The edges of the tusks were then sawed off with a rusted saw even as the animal protested, obviously in pain. The purpose? To prevent this trussed up elephant from butting anyone.

The recording also shows he was jabbed and prodded with spiked bamboo sticks, continuously drawing blood. The rationale given: “It breaks the spirit of a rogue elephant and helps in the training process.” Every time Basant Bahadur was prodded, he struggled to get to his feet but would eventually topple over because he could not get his balance.

The camera team moved away from the scene after three days to film the plight of the villagers and other elephants in the area. However, 18 days later they heard that Basant Bahadur was dead. Many believe that he could not bear the stress or was over-tranquillised. Causes of death apart, what is most important is to remember that a young elephant had died and that too when it was in the custody of protectors for 18 days. The question arises: Why was more help not asked for if things were spinning out of control?

What saddens me even more, although the capturing team claims that this particular tusker was an old elephant of about 25 years of age (not a veteran by any yardstick), is that an incident like this wields a huge blow to the existing wild elephant gene pool. With the male versus female elephants ratio declining in many parts of India, we cannot afford the death of a young tusker.

Rethink The Strategy