In 2021, a wild elephant named Rivaldo, from the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, was taken into “captivity” by the forest department following years of complaints from local residents. Rivaldo, they said, would wander through their villages and scour garbage bins for food.
Rivaldo, who was known for his gentle demeanour, was kept inside a kraal or enclosure in his home range at Vazhaithottam in Mudumalai. Mahouts had been employed to “tame” him so that he could be taken to the Theppakadu Elephant Camp, where he was to live the rest of his life in captivity.
Most media reports centred around the concerns of the local non-Adivasi settlers at Sigur in the Nilgiris, who wanted the elephant captured. I visited the kraal where Rivaldo was kept by the forest department. This offered me a chance to see up-close how his removal from the landscape not only affected him, but also the other elephants with whom he had formed strong bonds.
Staring through the wooden grates of the kraal during my visit, Rivaldo suddenly became agitated and had to be pacified by the mahouts who surrounded him. When I asked them what happened, they said that Rivaldo could sense that another elephant, Messi, was close to the kraal and wanted to break out from the enclosure. “Though they spent most of their time apart, these two elephants used to meet every evening before Rivaldo’s capture. Ever since Rivaldo was put inside the kraal, Messi has been visiting him every day. He keeps trying to come close to the area and we have to chase him away,” said one of the forest department staff. He said that Rivaldo only showed signs of distress when he could sense other elephants in the region whom he knew well.
Following my visit, animal rights activists and conservation biologists, whose pleas to release Rivaldo back into the wild had been largely ignored by the local press until then, managed to band together and work towards getting the gentle giant released back into the wild. After The Hindu published a number of articles highlighting the need to release the animal, the forest department constituted a committee of experts to deliberate on this question. A few weeks later, Rivaldo was released.
Since then, I have seen Rivaldo often. He socialises with the community of elephants in the Sigur plateau and has minimal interactions with the people. This is because of the tireless efforts of the forest department staff, who constantly monitor him and ensure that he is driven away into the surrounding reserve forests when he strays too close to settlements.
Every time I see this majestic tusker, I recall the fate of other iconic elephants from the Nilgiris, such as Ganesan and Ronaldo, who too lived in habitats between forest areas and places where human communities thrive. Ganesan was a much-loved rotund behemoth who had never attacked anyone. One day, when he strayed into a farm, local residents chased him away with fireworks. While fleeing, Ganesan stumbled into a sewage pit and died. Ronaldo, who also shared the same habitat bordering the village of Vazhaithottam with Rivaldo, was “burned to death” when the owner of an illegal homestay threw a burning sack at him when he was trying to raid a plantation. The sack got ensnared around his tusks, causing serious injuries. Ronaldo died a few days later.
Giving names for elephants who live between forest habitats and human settlements often helps people understand their behaviour better. It also allows journalists to see negative human-elephant interactions through the eyes of the people as well as the elephants, piece together the ecological factors that lead to such conflict, and report on ways in which such conflict can be minimised while also ensuring a fulfilling life for the animal.
Each time I stumble across Rivaldo in the wild, I feel partly responsible for the fact that he is free. And while that is a matter of pride, I also hope that it was the right call to release him into the wild. We live in the hope that Rivaldo has a long, fulfilling life and does not meet the same end as Ganesan or Ronaldo.
rohan.prem@thehindu.co.in
