How one simple idea saved a Sloth Bear ?

 Distress Call from a Sloth Bear

A sloth bear (Melursus ursinus)

Prelude

A few days back in December 2021, I had seen a video doing rounds in many whatsapp groups, extolling the great valour of a sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) that challenged an adult tiger (Panthera tigiris), which was stalking at the bear within the confines of the Maharashtra’s Tadoba National Park in Central India. The apex predator was giving his best to bite the neck of the bear with an effort to severe the jugular vein or to break its spinal cord, usual of a tiger's hunting tactics, in the face of stiff resistance and aggressive fight back from the sloth bear. Sloth bear as such is gifted with curved sickle-shaped claws, exceptionally long for their body size, which come in handy when fighting off the predator. In fact, at one time the sloth bear took an upper hand and was found chasing the top carnivore. As luck had it for the bear, the tiger at the end retreated, accepted his defeat and got into a water hole- virtually to cool his heel.

Given its threatened status, the species is included in the Schedule I of India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act and is categorized as ‘Vulnerable’ in IUCN Red List. An exclusive sanctuary, the first dedicated protected area for the sloth bears in Asia has been established in 1994 at Daroji, close to the historic city of Hampi in Karnataka in India over 82 sq.km area. This area is home to about 120 sloth bears. Notwithstanding, the risks associated with a sloth bear’s life in its wild setting, these animals have of late come in serious conflict with human beings. In its vast distribution range across India, sloth bears have been seen entrenched in the human dominated landscapes, coming in serious conflict with man. As for Tamil Nadu, forays of these wild beasts into the bigger towns such as Ootacamund, Conoor and Kotagiri in the upper plateau of Nilgiris are not uncommon. The fact that the Nilgiri plateau is dotted with more than 200 bits of reserved forests, some of which are only few hectares in extent in the midst of vast stretches of plantation crops and agricultural lands accentuates the problem. 

British background

When the British East India Company first commenced their business activities in India and later when the British Raj was established during post-1857 War of Mutiny, they showed enormous interest in the country’s forests for meeting the Empire’s timber needs, mainly for strengthening the British Navy and for expanding the country’s rail network. Looking for hill stations that would easily imitate the salubrious year round climate of England and Scotland, early European explorers trekked the less known paths up the hills of the country. Such inquisitive travelers to the hill ranges, spread across the vast British Empire from the Himalayas in the North and North East to the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats of the southern India began to settle in the hills. In the process, they established numerous settlements in the picturesque upper plateaus, rolling downs and valleys. These stations soon became popular hill resorts, besides becoming the summer capital of many of the provincial governments in the respective provinces.

Alongside, the early forest administrators introduced many number of fast growing exotic tree plantations comprising of eucalypts, tropical pines, wattles etc. by clearing the native forest vegetation to supply more firewood to the residents. Their commercial interest in the hills ushered in a new regime of plantation crop development that included tea, coffee, rubber, cardamom, clove etc that led to the cutting of large chunks of natural forests. Establishment of many British plantation companies in these hills kicked off a chain of developments like agriculture, roads, rails, housing, processing factories, and hydro- and power projects in the hills. In brief, such fast pace of human progress accelerated the destruction of forests that was home to myriad animal life during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries in the country. Hunting and shooting of wild animals of all descriptions emerged as the popular pastime of the British Nobility, planters, officers of the British Raj, besides the ruling echelon of the Princely states. The cumulative impacts of all these activities were plummeting number of various wild animal species, depletion of habitats for wild animals and fragmentation and discontinuity of their homes.

 Escalating human- wild animal confrontation

The situation took a turn around with introduction of an omni-bus law in Independent India in 1972 aka Wildlife (Protection) Act to safeguard the threatened wildlife by bringing a ban on hunting and to protect their habitats by the declaration of more sanctuaries and national parks. In the context of increasing wild animal population given the better protection to wild animal species as against the shrunk and broken habitats, and development of human settlement and habitations on private lands up to the forest boundaries and the seasonal migratory pattern of wildlife, it is noticed that wild animals are often spilling over to the human habitations. Instances of wild animals including elephant, gaur, panther, tiger, sloth bear, wild pig etc straying into the human inhabited areas adjacent to reserve forests are on the increase.

From the stage of peaceful cohabitation between forest dwelling and forest abutting human communities and the wild animals in the not very distant past, man and wild animal confrontation has become almost the order of the day. The situation is wrought with two potential fallouts- both not desirable. Either the straying animals cause extensive damage to properties and life of the people, thereby inviting the wrath of the people who under compelling circumstances might lose their compassion for those animals. This could lead to intentional or unintentional harm meted out to the animals by the concerned people. Alternatively, the wild animals might find themselves in deep distress. While such situations arouse peoples’ concern for the distressed wild animals, they also cause anxiety and anguish among the affected public, besides evoking angry responses from them.

The adverse effect from the straying wild animals can be curtailed with the speedy removal of the said problematic animals from the concerned habitation. Similarly, life of such strayed wild animals, which are found to be in distress condition can be saved, if they are rescued from the area without much loss of time. This calls for putting in place an Emergency Response System to attend to the emerging situation in a most expeditious manner. Delayed response by the local forest officials will draw widespread criticism from the public and in the media and show the forest department in poor light. Here is an episode that provides a narration about the rapid and successful rescue and rehabilitation attempt that the Forest department in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district launched, when there was no laid down protocol or procedure for such operation. 

Unusual visitor at an odd hour

A worker in the labour line of a small tea estate near Aravenu village , five km from Kotagiri town in the Nilgiris woke up to wailing cry of an animal near his shed at the wee hours of September 2003. Kothagiri and its neighbourhood support extensive tea gardens ranging from few acres to several hundred acres. The landscape is a mosaic of tea plantations, fruit orchards, agricultural fields and tiny hamlets and small villages. Few scattered forest blocks too occur as insular refuges for wild animals in the midst of huge human presence. He thought that there is something amiss. The yowl originated from inside an open well in the tea garden, only a few metres away from the labour quarters. He mustered courage and focused the torch light to the bottom of the well and found a huge dark animal standing at the floor of the well. Waited for an hour or so, he alerted his estate owner. It was dawn by then and after ascertaining the beast to be a sloth bear, the owner called up the Kotagiri Forest Range Officer. Hearing the anxious tone of the owner at the other end of the line, the Range Officer rushed to the spot with his field team around 7 AM.

Sloth bear at the bottom of a well

On examination of the scene of occurrence and from an enquiry with the owner, the Ranger concluded that sloth bears regularly venture into the tea gardens around Aravenu from nearby Konavakkarai slope Reserved Forest (RF) for the pear fruits, which are in plenty in the area. Tea bushes need to be sheltered with shade trees at appropriate intervals to guard the tender leaves and buds from getting burnt due to frost. Planters grow mostly silver oak (Grevillea robusta) as shade tree but mix it with fruit bearing trees like orange, pear or jack. The sloth bear, it was inferred, fell accidentally into the well in the night when it walked over the tin sheet placed over part of the well. On a closer scrutiny, Ranger found the well to be 30’ deep and 10’ in diameter and had no parapet wall around. As the well contained only knee deep (1.5 feet) water, the sloth bear was not drowned. But the new found habitat of the bear apparently made it nervous and the animal was heard making interrupted but very loud noise. The Ranger conveyed the matter to the District Forest Officer (DFO) at Ooty over mobile phone around 8.00 AM.

 Consultations

In those days, nearly two decades ago, there were no standard operating procedures (SOP) or protocols for rescuing and rehabilitating such wild animals found in trouble. Field officials evolve their own strategies/action plans and improvise location-specific methods in salvaging them. The District Forest Officer alerted the Forest Veterinary Assistant Surgeon (FVAS), Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary to move over to the scene with necessary tranquilizer equipments and drugs. His plan was that the veterinarian would tranquilize (sedate) the animal, send someone down the well to net it and the team would lift the sedated animal in a net and release it on the ground. The DFO brought the news to me at 9.00 AM. I was then serving as Conservator of Forests, Coimbatore Circle and was incidentally camping at Ooty. I ascertained all details about the location of the well, general lie of the land, its proximity to the nearest forest block, the habitations and agricultural/commercial scene surrounding the site from the officials in the field.

After evaluating the details placed before me, I suggested that the sloth bear could be lured to climb over from the well through a ladder of appropriate length that can be placed in the right position across the wall of the well. And only a bamboo ladder and no metal one, as it might deter the bear. After all, sloth bears are known to be avid honey hunters and they climb trees at ease to devour beehives. The bears have very strong limbs with which they can scale up trees of magnificent heights. Meanwhile, message reached Ooty that the FVAS has started for Kotagiri with tranquilizer equipments and necessary medicines to launch the rescue operation. I told the DFO to keep the option of chemical restraint and netting of the sloth bear as Plan ‘B’, if only the ‘Plan A’ mooted by me fails.

Operation Rescue 

This suggestion was conveyed to the Ranger, Kotagiri who by that time was busy managing the surging onlookers that congregated around the well to have a glimpse of the beast. The major concern of the field staff was to rescue the animal, at the same time ensuring the safety of the villagers thronging the area and hundreds of tea pluckers at their work. A tom-tom (drum beating) was arranged to alert the people in the vicinity to exercise caution in moving about the area. It suddenly struck the Ranger that the animal might be ferocious because of hunger and exhaustion. Sloth bears are omnivorous and in the wild, roughly half of their diet is made up of termites and ants, the other half being fruits and seeds. Obviously, the Ranger couldn’t have arranged the termites and ants. A basketful of pear, orange, banana, green pea, carrot, and beetroot was sent down the well through a rope. Apprehensive initially, the sloth bear tore off the basket. Finding that no harm followed, the animal quietly fed on the fruits and vegetables.

            Meanwhile, villagers arranged two bamboo ladders of length of about 15 feet each. The ladder was sturdy enough to bear the weight of the adult sloth bear, which was estimated to be around 80-100 kg. After evaluating the actual height requirement, the ladders were tied to each other and placed into the well in a slanting position so that its tip jutted out of the rim of the well. Forest staff requested the people to move away towards the opposite side of the well from where the bear was expected to jump out. The plan worked perfectly along the excepted lines. In less than five minutes of placing it, the sloth bear started climbing the ladder effortlessly like a human being. The animal leaped to the ground within the next few seconds. It was 9.30 AM.

           

Sloth bear climbing up the ladder

Sloth bear out on the ground

The major responsibility now fell on the field staff to guide the animal towards the nearest Konavakkarai RF. Safety of the workers and people who might encounter the bear haunted their minds. Because, sloth bears are known to be potentially dangerous and they can inflict fatal injuries on human, if provoked. Another hurdle that was feared to jeopardize driving operation was the horde of vehicles using the busy Mettupalayam-Kotagiri highway. The staff executed a very neat and bold driving operation. An advance team alerted people by cordoning off the pathway to allow the animal an unhindered movement. The traffic on both ends of the highway was halted for more than 20 minutes. After walking through the tea bushes, the bear reached the highway where the column of vehicles was on wait for the animal to cross over. The animal was further moved for another 100 m from behind by the staff. The sloth bear entered the Konavakkarai slope RF, a fairly dense jungle after logging over 250 m through tea fields around 10 AM.    

Learnings from the rescue operation:

This exceptionally simple rescue operation involving a sloth bear offer many unique lessons for the forest officials.

Field officials of the Department need to devise a workable plan and implement salvation measures for each individual case. Our past experience in this regard suggests that no two occasions was the same. Each incident has its own variables and therefore, the strategy has to be arrived taking into account the specific local conditions. Application of common sense principles invariably yields dividends in many of the rescue and rehabilitation missions. In the instant case of liberation of the sloth bear from bottom of the well, looking at the normal health status of the animal the team took advantage of the known behavioral trait and innate capability of the sloth bear in scaling trees, which worked. Considering these aspects, the team leader would do well to consult as many as possible quickly for ideas. It may turn out that sometimes bright ideas emanate from some member of the team who might be the lowest in the administrative rank. Bear in mind the dictum ‘No idea is stupid’

In this operation, each officer and staff discharged his task in the most expeditious manner. Within a record three hours time since the receipt of first information by the Range Officer, the sloth bear was rescued and rehabilitated successfully. Time is the key to any successful translocation operation involving wild animals.

An alternate option to rescue the animal through chemical immobilization and netting was kept in readiness in this case. Anticipating constraints that might crop up during an operation, the team leader has to keep ‘ready to exercisable’ alternative options in hand. Having in hand, a ‘Plan B’ will put the team on a firm footing.

Managing of such man-animal conflict situations or organizing rescue/ and rehabilitation operations must be conducted in a most professional manner with wholehearted participation of the entire team. Each member of the team must realize that his role is equally important. It may be also ensured that such operations are held without much fan fare.