17
Apr 2008 - by Sujoy Banerjee, Director Species
Conservation, WWF-India - It was a long
wait for this day. Over the past one and
a half years, Manas National Park, once
and now to be a future home for rhonos,
went through a major reconstruction process.
Security against poachers was reinstalled
by construction of protection camps and
posting of extra staff and volunteers. The
habitat was monitored and found suitable
for the rhinos.
There was eagerness
on part of the Forest Department authorities
to move the rhinos, and there was equal
eagerness on part of Manas National Park
authorities to receive them. But I was keeping
my fingers crossed. The rhino translocations
had to be called off a month ago at the
very last moment due to non-availability
of valid drugs on time.
Not taking any chances
this time, WWF sponsored a veterinarian
to visit Singapore to procure valid drugs.
The veterinarian came back with the drugs
on Monday, 07th April, 2008 and the date
of translocation was scheduled four days
later. But anything could have gone wrong;
bad weather, possibilities of ethnic clashes,
curfew.
Everything seemed perfect
on the D-day. The weather gods smiled upon
us and the day was clear. Pobitora Wildlife
Sanctuary, from where the rhinos were to
be moved, was agog with activity since very
early in the morning with tight security
positioned at entrance points and only authorized
persons associated with the translocation
allowed entry into the area. Cranes, earth
moving machinery, an ambulance and loads
of trucks were in place.
The operation started
off at 5.30 in the morning and a group of
veterinarians went off on elephant back
to tranquilizing the rhinos. Ramesh Bhatta,
Project Officer of WWF-India, who had identified
the four rhinos (two males and two females)
to be translocated, was also with the tranquilizing
team.
Everything went off
as planned initially. Of the four rhinos
identified, Bhatta showed three of them
to the tranquilizing team one by one, and
the elephants, splayed out in a single file,
gradually started cordoning the rhinos.
But all three rhinos managed to break the
elephant cordon.
It was 9.00 am and the
tranquilizing team had not been able to
tranquilize even a single rhino. The wireless
was crackling with frantic conversations.
The sun was now up and the temperature was
gradually rising. The rhinos had sensed
that the people on elephant back were not
usual visitors and avaoided being closely
approached. It appeared that the team may
not be be able to tranquilize even a single
rhino.
The tranquilizing team
changed tactics. They now started stalking
the rhino on foot, using the elephants as
cover. In the next half hour that ensued,
the first rhino, a male, was tranquilized.
After fifteen minutes of tracking, the rhino
grew sluggish and his hind legs started
sinking. A vet then approached this animal
and gave him a second shot of tranquilizer.
But as soon as the dart hit him, the animal
was up on his feet and running again!
The rhino lost consciousness
in the next ten minutes and the tranquilizing
team approached him cautiously. A person
prodded him with a stick, and when he was
found totally unconscious, others, waiting
in the flanks swooped in.
The eyes of the rhino
were covered with a cloth and buckets of
water were poured over him to keep his body
temperature down. While the vet team busied
themselves taking measurements and samples;
blood, nose smears, temperature, pulse,
length, height etc., the radiocollaring
team started fixing the radiocollar in place.
The darts were taken out and the wound sprayed
with antiseptics. The rhino was also administered
antibiotics and sedatives for the long journey
ahead.
The excavator began
digging a cavity about a foot behind the
felled rhino. Once this cavity of depth
equal to the height of the stretcher sledge
was excavated, labourers with shovels and
diggers moved the loose earth and gave proper
shape to the pit. The stretcher sledge was
placed into this cavity. Everyone lent a
hand in flipping over the rhino, weighing
around fifteen hundred kilos, on to the
stretcher sledge. The sledge was then pulled
out of the cavity by the excavator and dragged
about five hundred meters to the site where
the crate (wooden cage) was parked.
Time was running out,
since the rhino was to be revived and the
stretcher sledge carrying the unconscious
rhino was hurriedly taken inside the crate.
The crate, which is a wooden cage, has two
sliding doors on both side, which can be
lifted vertically to open the cage. The
cage was closed from one side and the door
towards the head of the rhino was lowered
halfway. A vet entered into the crate and
administered a drug for reviving the rhino
from his unconsciousness. In ten seconds,
the rhino was stirring and stood up on his
feet, albeit a trifle groggy and dazed.
But no sooner had he gained foothold, he
began heavily pounding the walls of the
crate with the horn sitting over his nose.
The next operation involved
pulling out the stretcher sledge from the
crate to provide the rhino with a better
foothold during transportation. Inch by
inch, the stretcher sledge was pulled out
of the cage ensuring that the rhino was
not injured in the process. Once the sledge
was out, the sliding doors of the cage was
sealed using cross-iron strips which were
bolted on the door. The door was also secured
to the body of the crate with ropes.
The crane was moved
in to lift the crate and put it into the
back of the truck. In the first attempt,
the crane lifted the crate a feet or two
in the air only to find that it was tilting
to one side The two securing steel ropes
were readjusted and the crate was lifted
about eight feet from the ground. Then the
rhino moved. The crate tilted heavily on
one side at an angle of forty five degrees
and hung precariously as the entire mass
of rhino came to that side side, and for
a moment it appeared that the crate would
come crashing down with the poor rhino inside
it. But the crate, made out of strong Sal
wood stood its ground. Finally, the crate
was maneuvered to the ground before anything
untoward could take place.
Now the excavator was
summoned. As it was lifted, the excavating
arm of the excavator keep the crate upright
and the crate was loaded onto the truck
without any further event.
It almost noon by the
time decision was taken to make an attempt
to tranquilize the second rhino. Having
learnt a lesson from the earlier event,
things went quite smoothly this time and
the second rhino, again a male, was put
into the crate and secured in the back of
the truck.
At 2.30 pm, the vet
team started their reconnaissance for the
third rhino and they had been able to locate
a rhino, which broke off the elephant cordon
and moved into a wooded area on the fringes
of the grasslands of Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary.
While it was being contemplated
whether to drive the rhino out of the woodland
into the open for tranquilization, Mr. B.S.
Bonal, the Chief Conservator of Forests
who was in charge of the translocations
decided to call off further translocations
as everyone was very tired and fagged out.
While returning back to base, Ramesh Bhatta
and Garga Mohan Das, a veterinary doctor
working as a Project Officer with WWF-India
spotted a rhino at close distance. Garga
had a loaded tranquilizing gun, and without
any hesitation, this rhino, thought to be
a female, was tranquilized. To the utter
dismay of everyone it turned out to be a
male again! The rhino was revived and allowed
to go immediately.
The team waited till
sundown to start the transportation of the
rhinos. At about six pm, the convoy of vehicles
with the trucks carrying the rhinos in the
center, started moving. As soon as the convoy
reached the exit gate of the sanctuary,
it was greeted by a huge number of local
people, who had been waiting since morning
to catch a glimpse of their rhinos. People
cheered as the procession passed by.
The vet team kept monitoring
the rhinos every half and hour and water
was poured over them periodically. The vehicles
in the convoy maintained contact with each
other through walkie-talkies. The police
provided an escort vehicle with flashing
red lights to lead the convoy, and the traffic
of cities and towns that were stopped throughout
the journey by the police to make way for
the "VIP" convoy to pass by. The
escort vehicle in front, called the “pilot”
kept changing from time to time as soon
as the border of a district was reached;
the pilot leading the convoy would pull
by and another pilot, already waiting by
the side of the road, would take his place
upfront without stopping the convoy, as
if it were a part of some kind of relay
race.
The distance of 240
kms from Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary to
Manas National Park was covered in twelve
hours due to slow movement of vehicles in
the interest of comfort and safety of the
rhinos. It was daylight by the time we were
reaching Manas, and only one obstacle needed
to be negotiated……. a flowing river!
There was only about
two feet of water in the river and the leading
vehicles cleared the river with ease. People
watched with bated breath as the first truck
carrying the rhino crate entered the water.
If the truck got stuck in the river, it
would be a gargantuan task to pull it out.
But luck was on our side as the truck crawled
out the water uneventfully, the second truck
following closely behind the first.
The convoy entered the
Manas National Park and continued some ten
kilometers inside to reach the area where
the rhinos were to be released. We were
greeted by a large group of people who had
been waiting for hours to catch a glimpse
of the rhinos. Two ramps had been created
by excavating the earth, and both the trucks
backed down into these depression. The iron
board securing the back of the truck was
opened, which formed a platform for the
rhinos to walk over from the truck to terra
firma. The space between the crate and end
of the iron board was covered with mud and
grasses and rhino dung was scattered over
it to provide a natural base for the rhino
to come out.
Some team members climbed
on the top of the crate, while the onlookers
clambered on to another truck carrying water
tanks parked in the vicinity. Some people
placed themselves on the two Machaan (elevated
wooden platform), strategically built especially
for this event to provide the best glimpse
of the rhino release. Dozens of cameras
were lined up to record the history that
was going to be created. And the door of
the cage was lifted up. All eyes were focused
on the rear of the truck from where the
rhino was to emerge. The fingers on the
cameras were ready and taut to click the
best shots possible. But the rhino did not
emerge.
In the next half and
hour that followed, attempts were repeatedly
made to get the rhino up on his feet, but
the rhino had planted itself firmly to the
floor of his crate and would not budge.
Water was poured over him repeatedly and
he was prodded with a stick, but he held
his ground. As the minutes passed by, people
were getting more apprehensive about some
injury that may have incapacitated the rhino.
It was then decided
to release the second rhino. Some others
got on to the top of the crate while I decided
to help unscrew the bolts for opening the
door. A plank, which was fixed at the bottom
of the door needed to be taken out. So I
requested the people operating the door
to lift it six inches to lift the door.
As the door was lifted a few inches, I was
crouched on the ground attempting to pull
out the plank. Then there was a bang and
the rhino managed to lift the door with
his horn, and I was staring at the face
of a snorting rhino two feet away! I jumped
and moved aside. But the rhino could not
balance the door on his nose for long and
it came down crashing the very next moment.
It was decided not to make any further attempts
to remove the plank.
While all this was happening,
another drama began to unfold. The people
on top of the first crate shouted that the
rhino, which had not budged an inch for
the past forty five minutes decided to move.
Someone shouted to me to run for cover (I
was the only person on the ground) and I
scampered into the cabin of the truck carrying
the second rhino. The rhino emerged from
the back of the truck and turned right,
straight towards the truck with a loadful
of people parked some twenty meters away!
It banged on the truck with its horn five
or six times much to the chagrin of a group
of onlookers on board the truck. Then it
turned around and ran into the grassland
and disappeared as the crowd broke into
a loud applause.
Before the second crate
was opened, I had managed to plant myself
on one of the Machaan overlooking the back
of the second truck to get some pictures
of the rhino release. No sooner was the
door of the crate of the second rhino was
opened, the head of the rhino poked out
of the rear of the truck, and it surveyed
the scene around it. Then it came out full
charge, turned a full circle, and banged
the side of the truck that had been carrying
it for the past fourteen hours. Then it
galloped and vanished into the thickets,
again evoking loud applause from the crowd.
Happy and content, but
very weary, the team returned back. Most
of us had a very scanty sleep over the past
few two nights, while some had not slept
properly for three. Everyone was covered
with a mix of sweat and dirt from head to
toe.
As we drove back, the
significance of this exercise dawned over
me. It was not merely a process of shifting
some rhinos into a place where rhinos once
existed, we were bringing back the lost
glory of this World Heritage site, which
the local people were once proud of. Above
all, it would secure a long-term future
for the rhinos in this part of India, as
this would help building up of another population
of rhinos in another part of the state of
Assam. If the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 Programme
goes on successfully, then rhino populations
would also be built up gradually in other
places of Assam as well by translocating
rhinos to such areas. There would be opportunities
for tourism, a reduction of human-rhino
conflicts in areas rhinos are taken from,
and an intermixing of genetic material through
rhinos being brought into Manas from different
places.
While I write this articles,
the sequence of events unfold before my
eyes, as if I am watching a replay. And
what impresses me most in the whole event
is the role of the people of Assam. What
started off as an initiative of the Government
of Assam in partnership with Worldwide Fund
for Nature (WWF), International Rhino Foundation
(IRF) and US Fish and Wildlife Services
actually turned out to be really a movement
of the people of Assam. Apart from local
NGOs, individuals, doctors, veterinarians,
academicians and a host of other people
had participated in the event whole heartedly,
and the contribution of these people to
the success of the first translocation is
immense. It was really a role model to learn
in terms of team work.
I guess the effort of translocation was
successful in more ways than one!!
