elephants block ambulance ~ suffering of a pregnant woman

Heard of the word ‘depredation’ (n) – the dictionary meaning is ‘an act of attacking or plundering’ ~ often this is associated with damage caused by pachyderms.  We read about ‘human-animal’ conflict…. ~ it is  the interaction between wild animals and people and the resultant negative impact on people or their resources, or wild animals or their habitat. It occurs when growing human populations overlap with established wildlife territory, creating reduction of resources or life to some people and/or wild animals. 

You hear of elephants walking to human domain, blocking roads etc., quite often in Coimbatore… sometime back tension was simmering on the proposed elephant corridor in Ooty foothills. While conservationists say this is essential to restore the man-nature balance, farmers and property owners question the State government’s decision to acquire 7,000 acres of fertile land for it. The whole area from the Bandipur reserve forest in Karnataka, adjoining the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary of Tamil Nadu and the foothills of Ooty, was once untouched “tusker territory”, say wildlife activists.  It is stated humans have now intruded into the wilderness and encroached upon the Nilgiri biosphere reserve. Of the around 2,000 elephants in the southern peninsula, half are in the three contiguous, ecologically sensitive sanctuaries.

Elephants are commonly sighted in palces like Masinagudi, Mavanallah, Bokkapuram, Vazhaithottam, Anaikatty and Sigur. Once in a while you read of elephants rampaging in areas like Kovaipudur, Thondamuthur, Valparai, Madukkarai etc.,  Elephants often raid the fields ransacking crops in search of water and food.

Away in US, the Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service awarded $3.8 million in 2011 and 2012 for a “African Elephant Conservation” grant that, in part, aims to “decrease human-elephant conflict.” The grant award for 2013 is estimated at $1.5 million to continue efforts to protect African elephants and their habitat.  The funds  are granted to African government agency responsible for African elephant conservation and protection and any other organization or individual with demonstrated experience in African elephant conservation. 

Jumbos have had the measure of humans  in Tamilnadu. Large herds and loners have caused fear by entering villages bordering forests in Erode, Krishnagiri, Coimbatore and Dharmapuri districts~ but the experience of 34 year old tribal woman Vasantha Devi was harrowing as reported in Times of India.  The news states that a herd of six elephants blocked the pathway of the ambulance that was taking Vasantha, who was in labour, to a hospital. The delay in getting to the hospital led to the loss of her infant son who was stillborn.

Her husband B Nenjan witnessed and underwent pain as it was not possible to make the elephants move and have the way for vehicle. His wife was writhing in pain; by the time more people came for assistance, she had delivered a stillborn baby.  Later she was rushed  labour ward intensive care unit of Coimbatore Medical College Hospital due to post-pregnancy complications. It is stated that the elephants just stood there for more than half an hour and refused to give way to the ambulance. The traumatic ordeal left Vasantha in an extremely vulnerable state with her blood pressure shooting up, leading to severe eclamptic seizures, a pregnancy related complication. The herd eventually moved out of the way and she was transferred from the ambulance into the jeep and rushed to Sathy government hospital. The authorities there referred her to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital where she is recuperating but still kept in the intensive care unit under medical supervision.

The ambulance in which Vasantha was being taken to the hospital had reached a stream near Kallampalayam. Irudhiyaraj, the panchayat president of Thengumarahada, a collection of more than five hamlets, claimed that the bumpy ride through the forest route itself is a traumatic experience for pregnant women and there were several cases where pregnant women delivered inside the vehicle.

Nanjan (36), is a casual labourer and has been married to Vasantha for more than three years. They live in a tribal hamlet near Kallampalayam, accessible through Bhavani Sagar forest region in Erode. It is a remote area where there are no proper transport facilities. Though it falls in Nilgiris district, the nearest source for medical aid is a health centre near Thengumarahada and then at Sathyamangalam in Erode for complicated cases.

Really sad to read of their ordeal ~ caused this time by the elephants

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

4^th Sept. 2013

News source : Times of India; photo courtesy : The Hindu.