Animal icons beacons of hope for wildlife, humans…..Mahesh Rangarajan
Animal icons are not new to India or to conservation history. The tiger was national animal, alone on a pedestal from 1973 on, till earlier this year, when the Gangetic dolphin became the national aquatic animal. That the peacock is the national bird is known to all. Why have such a symbol at all? In 1972, when the lion was displaced by the tiger, Dr Karan Singh, chair of the Indian Board for Wildlife, explained that the latter was a symbol of unity in diversity. It was found in many states, whereas the lion was only extant in one state, Gujarat.
So, there is logic in adopting animals as emblems in this modern age. In the past, animals were seen as surrogate humans. Sanskrit literature evoked the lion as a king of beasts or the tiger as emblem of strength. The elephant had a key role, as is evident in sculpture, art and literature.
But the recent 2010 report of the Elephant Task Force argued that the Asian elephant could serve as a symbol of a new kind and for a distinct purpose.
As the national heritage animal, it would bring together those who saw it as repository of cultural values and others for whom it was a marker of disappearing ecologies.
Protecting and securing the future of Indias wild elephants is integral to the broader task of achieving peace with nature. Elephants were known to the Harrapans five millennia ago, and also had a key role in literatures, Sanskrit and Pali, Persian and Tamil. Tamed over 2,000 years ago, they are also a rare wild animal familiar to children and adults alike. Yet, in a country with almost 400 people to a square kilometre, some five times the density in 1881, the future is not easy to foretell or secure. Further, there are some 65,000 square km of elephant reserves, but these are often menaced by fresh development projects that may destroy habitat or cut off movement.
Iconic status also went with the thirst for ivory. While the best craftsmen used African ivory, the trade has reduced male to female ratios to one to a hundred in many of Indias reserves. The females who are tuskless are safe, but with so few males the social baric of this gregarious animal is torn apart. What India does for the elephant has a lot to do with what meaning we attach to the animal itself and to its forest home. Even as it is worshipped, it is poached. Its emotional intelligence is the subject of lore, but in real life, it can be killed or maimed to defend crops or homes.
How far can a measure of compassion inform our conduct not only at an individual but at a societal level? Equally so, a lot rests on how the new and upcoming generation sees the great animal as part of an ecological fabric of soils, waters and wildlife that renews the cycles of life and is a resource for the future. It was no accident that a tusker was symbol of that historic body, Constituent Assembly of India. No large vertebrate, perhaps, has such a major presence across Indias diverse ecosystems as this keystone species. To protect the Gajah requires that we address the social-economic dimensions of the conflict. As chairman of a 12-member Task Force on Gajah from February to August this year, it was good to know how much positive energy this country has to attain these goals.
The Elephant Task Force suggested and the government has accepted the Asian elephant be declared a national heritage animal. As much as the core substantive measures, better planning and protection, timely crop compensation, better science and humane care, the symbolism does matter. It is still possible to have an India where elephants live securely in the wild. There is no cause for despair. It does not yet face a crisis of extinction like the tiger does. But to give a sharp focus for better planning to secure habitat and species, the new status will give a much-needed shot in the arm.
An environmental historian, Mahesh Rangarajan was chairman of the Elephant Task Force