Calendar profits for Conservation
So far, part of the money that was raised by the calendars has gone for the following causes.
The Soligas call the Black eagle ‘The darkness of the Shola”
Black eagle study – The black eagle is a very rare, less studied bird of prey. In BR hills, we found a pair nesting very close to human settlement. The nest was getting disturbed regularly and this was also an amazing opportunity to study the nesting cycle of this amazing bird of prey. So with the money pool, I was able to hire two young naturalists from the Soliga tribe to monitor the black eagle. They were very interested in wildlife and someday wanted to work as naturalists. I was able to give them binocs and bird books too. They were keeping people away from the nest and also over the last 2 months have been keeping very detailed records of eagles nesting/feeding/cleaning activities including its prey varieties, courtship displays etc. This is one of the first times, we have such detailed information about the black eagle nesting behavior. They have already finished 5 books writing down field notes and are still at it.
This information will be really useful for the scientific and birdwatcher community. We will be translating all their notes from kannada to english and we are planning to publish it as a scientific publication with international journals. Ofcourse the authors will be the Soligas and probably for the first time, the tribals will have a scientific paper to their credit.
Saving Kranthi – About a month ago, the camp elephant Kranthi at BR hills got attacked badly by a wild male tusker. The tusker pierced kranthi’s stomach, ears and back with its tusks. Some of the wounds were more than an feet deep into its skin and in both it’s ears, the bones are exposes because of the wounds. (pic)
Kranthi is also pregnant with 18 month old baby in its stomach. After the attack, Kranthi stopped eating and was physically in a very bad shape. Thanks to all the work put in by the mahout and all the help extended by the forest department, the elephant is looking in much better shape now. We still don’t know if she will make it all the way through, but for now things are looking OK. If she manages to live on for 3 -4 months, we will see a new elephant baby at BR hills. Getting the elephant back in shape was not easy. The mahout did not sleep for a week and he then just collapsed. Even with all the help that the forest department extended, the money was just not enough to take care of all the injections that the elephant needs even today.
Thanks to the calendars money, we were able to fund that extra bit of money that was needed to treat the elephant. We also helped the mahout financially as he was the most effected in the whole incident and he needed all the financial help he could get at his moment.
Hats off to you 🙂
Was the ‘wild tusker’ mad? Or is it normal for elephants to keep hurting each other during their fight for resources?
The tusker was in musth. Mostly the tusker wanted to mate and this one didn’t want to (obviously since she was already preg)
Thanks for the info on Musth!
Wow, having the Soligas as authors for a scientific paper would be great. I didn’t know about the elephant…I think you are doing excellent work. Your calendar is smiling up at me as I write this…my answering smile is wide indeed!
We are very proud of people like you, who, instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle in the dark, and truly illuminate “the darkness of the Sholas”. Thank you.
good to hear that…
sorry for the elephant though.
woah black eagle..thats SOME sighting!! “Ofcourse the authors will be the Soligas and probably for the first time, the tribals will have a scientific paper to their credit.” hmm..looking fwd..
I’m sorry to hear about Kranthi..She’s badly hurt as i can see..Hope things will be okay soon.
Oh by the way, on a random note..there’s this pashan lake in pune..quite close to where I stay. the lake suddenly has over 1000 birds! Lots o shovellors, common pochards & Mallards too!..that is almost twice the number we had recorded last. I aint that great at birding..have to work on it..alot actually and we’re also trying to find out the reason for the increase in number..Do you have any idea why it must have happened so out of the blue?! I’ve NO idea why so many birds suddenly arrived
hope for our animals
felt really good after reading this post. usually get to read stuff that makes me feel hopeless. it’s wonderful that u’re able to actually use the money from wildlife towards saving wildlife. can imagine how nice that must feel to be able to do it firsthand!! congrats!!
Madhu from the JLRNTP-1 yahoo group.
WOW!
From begging for stolen camera to this! You have come a long way!
Super!
Thats some humanitarian work!!. Felt happy reading about it, keep it up….
Good Job dude…
*Applause* *Applause* *Applause*
awesome work…
I bow to thee in respect for what you have done.
Dude seriously… thats some amazing work accomplished. Over the past 2 years most of us have loved your pictures of the wild. But this kinda work is what I was hoping to hear from you; Reinforces the fact that you arent a *mere photograher*
Wow. The part about the Tusker mauling this poor pregnant elephant was the most disturbing for me to read. I had hoped that somehow the animal kingdom was free of some of the senseless violence and selfishness that humans seem to experience altogether too often. I suppose we’re not more animal than some of our counterparts after all.
I hope that Kranthi will recover emotionally and physically from the attempted rape, as does her mahout. I remember the mahout and the elephants well from our trip there. I wonder if Kranthi is the little one that I sat on ?
Glad that you’ve found and chosen these avenues to disburse your profits. It’s hard to find the balance between making money and then using the money to live life in the way that you believe best. Altogether too often, the making money portion takes up so much time that life itself takes a bit of a back seat, or has to forcible become about the money.
Congrats on finding ways to live life that challenge the norm and appear to be successful anyway.
Hey Kalyan,
I dont know if you have already checked this….mentions your name in the article….. just came across online somewhere, thought of posting it here…by the way good job with all the animal welfare work…its definitely appreciated….
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070124/asp/calcutta/story_7284675.asp
That’s wonderful! great going..
Extremely happy to have one calender in hand . In other ways happy that i in-directly contributed to something very useful
I want to buy one of your calendars. Is it too late ?
Great to see you doing these things !
elephant sill not in a good shape
was there a couple of days back and saw the wounded elephant.They were giving it some medication(kinda bath – the hot water mixed with medicine,oils powder etc)and it was shouting badly- most probably in pain.otherwise I have never seen an elphant making such noises,it was crying i guess 🙁
Also heard that this is the elephant that took part in last years dasara procession along side ‘balarama’.It seems this is the reason why the department is doing everything to save it no matter how much money is spent.But dunno how much would it cost to treat an elephant.
I feel given a chance everybody would like to donate to save such an elephant.Its good that part of the proceeds are used for its treatment.
Hey Kalyan!!
U r just mindblowing…no words….gr8 work…i was brought to ur site by a fwded mail regarding beggars..ur works made me go crazy…just awesome…ultimate…from morning 10 am i m looking at every photo n every blog…simply gr8….i m admiring ur works dude…
Re: Hey Kalyan!!
Thanks.. would be interested to see this fwd mail that is going around 🙂
Re: Hey Kalyan!!
can u give me ur mail id??i’ll fwd it to u…
Re: Hey Kalyan!!
kalyan (at) rtns.org
thanks a lot..
Great work!
Great design, useful info!This resourse is great!Keep it up!With the best regards!
Frank
Re: Hey Kalyan!!
GM!! i’ve sent it…u r most welcome!!
More of Kanthi Photos
Kanthi Photos on 08 Jan 2007 at
http://bangaloredaredevil.blogspot.com/2007/01/k-gudi-kyathadevara-gudi-wilderness.html
and information at deccan herald
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb22007/index15043200722.asp
in today’s paper
this is what i got to see in today’s Deccan herald newspaper
http://www.deccanheraldepaper.com/pdf/2007/02/02/20070202aA001100009.jpg
Great work
This is great work. I am short of words to describe your efforts. All I can say is “Keep it up”
correct the name
thnx for keeping us update on kanthi…
she is doing better now, i met her on sunday…the wound is healing and it is causing her a severe itch.Apparently the bull has stopped invading the place as on sunday. The wound on her belly looks severe & right ear is literally torn ,looks like the attack has been really gruesome.
(..her name is kanthi & not kranthi…i’m sure u wudn’t like to be called kailash instead of kalyan…i’d rather refer that bull as ‘kranthi’)
Do elephants have ’emotions’ ? What about other animals? How does one justify killing animals for food, then?
My personal opinion
> Do elephants have ’emotions’ ?
> What about other animals?
> How does one justify killing animals for food, then?
Yes, I believe elephants have emotions.
I believe that many other animals also have emotions. I don’t know whether those emotions are tied to memory or not. And I’m not sure how intense those emotions are. For sure dogs have emotions as evident in their smiling or frowning or having fear or anger. As I said, don’t know if they remember their emotions past the current moment and if so, whether it is simply triggered by circumstance. Emotions may not even be particularly important to their surival or their lives the way it is with humans. And while we strive to evaluate the consistencies of our emotions, perhaps animals do not. Nevertheless, I think they feel emotions yes. And all animals with a central nervous system feel pain as well.
We’re all pretty human-centric, for obvious reasons, and I think there is much that we take for granted in the non human world that is untrue. Scientists not excluded.
How does one justify killing animals for food:
I think the human-centric thing helps. And the survival instinct – each animal does what it has to, to survive. In today’s urban day and age when city dwellers do not HAVE to eat animals to survive or be nutritionally balanced, the justification I’ve often heard is that we as humanity “grew up” eating meat and thus it is part of our nutritionary needs and part of the system. That the satisfaction of our “natural” desire for meat is above other considerations. I’ve heard all these valid justifications. I personally have a hard time with some. Not enough to be strict vegetarian, but enough to pretty much avoid killing animals for food. Also because I know that in most cases the killing is not done in any manner that can sit well in our own emotions. I think ignorance of the practices can also be a factor into the justification.
Why is Kanthi in chains?
I’m new to your site and amazing photos. I’ve taken greatly to elephants and am concerned for their welfare. Could you tell me why Kanthi has chains on your ankles? Is she chained at night? I suppose her will was broken by those who take care of her? Does she live with a herd? Does she appear happy? Has she ever been hit or yelled at?
Yes they have emotions
Apparently elephants have emotions. They are just about as complex as us. I’ve been learning more and more about elephants. They cry, trumpet and purr in happiness, yell and scream when upset. We’ve been training and training them but not observing and studying them.
Gay Bradshaw Ph.D at the Kerulos Centre in Oregon says that they have quite the emotions and many many abused elephants are experiencing PTSD around the world. They remember an abuse from a long time ago which gets triggered later on. Something reminds them – a smell, a sound, etc. – and they get very upset and perhaps harm the human near them.
As well, elephants will visit the remains of former family members and mourn their loss.
Re: Why is Kanthi in chains?
She is a tame elephant. Don’t know the history behind her, but I do not think it was captured from the wild. Now its no longer allowed to capture elephants from the wild. All the elephants are born in captivity.
The chains are for the mahouts to find her in the morning when she goes off into the forests. The elephants are not tied, they just have a long chain stuck to one leg so they will leave a trail behind whereever they go. Usually they are picked up in the morning, given a bath, fed and then the visitors go on ride on it. Then by lunch time, they are let loose and they go into the forests till they are fetched again the next morning.