“Sadly, their wings were clipped. I hope they will grow back soon,” says Nihar Ranjan, IFS, the District Forest Officer (DFO) of Madurai, of the 17 parakeets he and his team recently rescued from wildlife criminals. “We plan to release them into the wild soon.”
The compassionate officer has turned a meshed balcony at the forestry building into a small sanctuary for the birds.
“We nabbed two men while they were selling the birds in broad daylight at a residential area in the heart of the city. It was disheartening to see the birds caged,” says Nihar as he is joined by his little daughter Nandini in shredding tomatoes and guavas for the parakeets.
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Ever since he took charge six months ago, the DFO has cracked the whip on wildlife poachers in the district and earned the title, the Jungle man of Madurai.
Many local nature lovers, environmentalists and wildlife enthusiasts say that he is probably the first DFO who fined two private mahouts in the city for making their elephants beg in crowded places.
It was the night before last Diwali when Nihar got a call about poaching activities at Nagamalai Reserve Forest. “I sped on a bike with two rangers and we were astonished to see about a dozen headlights moving on the hills in the dark,” he recounts.
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After hours of waiting and braving gun shots, the criminals were arrested with the help of police.
Later it was found they were habitual offenders who hunt wild boar and black naped hares.
Even last month, the forestry confiscated wildlife trophies such as peafowl legs and porcupine quills from poachers.
“Madurai has little forest in comparison to other districts and the wildlife here comprises smaller mammals such as these,” points out Nihar. “We need to conserve what is left,” he asserts, adding that small mammals play a crucial role in the food chain and ecological balance.
“Kottampatti near Melur is often in news for pythons venturing into human habitats,” he says, “When we conducted a study from the forestry, we found the population of wild hares, the prey base of the pythons, had shrunk drastically due to rampant hunting, forcing the reptiles to slither into human settlements in search of food.”
Pulling out the Wildlife rules and Forest Acts , he says, if parakeets, hares, boars and jackals are listed under ‘Schedule 4’, it does not make them any less important.
“Forestry as a department should get closer to the public to sensitize people towards nature and wildlife,” feels the DFO, a nature lover from childhood.
He has started a facebook page ‘Madurai Forest Division’ which acts as an active platform for wildlife lovers in the city to come together. Hailing from Jharkhand and having worked in a number of forest-rich districts, Nihar is well versed with the problems Indian forests face. “In India, the dependency of people on forest land is much higher. We share a weird relationship with nature, as we only take and hardly give back,” he says.
To improve people’s connect to forests and environment, Nihar has been conducting awareness campaigns. He cites the example of one such on safe rescue of snakes. “Snake experts from Ooty gave demo sessions for forestry staff and public. We have to quell the fear people have about snakes,” says Nihar, who has built a network of wildlife volunteers across the district. “I plan to strengthen this team so that I have people in different places providing information on wildlife offences.”
To promote eco-tourism in Madurai district, Nihar has roped in a group of tribal men from Kurinji Nagar hamlet near Ezhumalai and trained them as tour-guides. “When tribals are made eco-tour guides, their dependency on forest land for livelihood comes down. This will help them find some regular income,” he says. The forestry has identified three trekking routes in the various reserve forests of Madurai for tourists. The longest trek is being developed at Sirumalai and other two short treks are coming up at Perumal Malai near Usilampatti and Kiluvamalai near Natham. Another place set to be developed as an eco-tourism spot is the famous Kutladampatti falls in the foothills of Sirumalai. “We are working on the required infrastructure such as construction of Reception-cum-Interpretation Centre, toilet, car parking, nature trails, eco huts, trekking sheds and purchase of camping equipment,” says Nihar.
The DFO also dreams of increasing the green cover of the temple town. “We are identifying potential areas in the district that can be transformed into social forests,” he adds.