Theodore Baskaran, eminent wildlife conservationist was here in the city yesterday as a guest speaker at 'India BirdRaces' a session conducted as a part of Coimbatore Vizha, powered by Yi (Young Indians) Coimbatore Chapter. The event took place at Hotel city tower, Coimbatore.
Yi, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), HSBC bank, as a part of their CSR activity and Yuhina ECO media had jointly organised this session. Speaking at the event, Theodore Baskaran delivered a thought-provoking speech on 'real' conservation of the environment and not the 'reel'. Read on for some great excerpts from his speech!
Beginning of Animal Welfare Organisations:
'Presently, people muddle between animal welfare and conservation. These are entirely two different things with different ideologies. The latter strives to conserve wildlife and preserve the ecosystem, while the former complicates it.
'Animal welfare is an ethical concern, not an ecological one’ said an Indian Naturalist. At best, these efforts have no bearing on wildlife conservation, at worst they defeat it's purpose. The first wave of wildlife conservation came to India during the 70's, particularly after the 1972 Wildlife Act at the Stockholm Conference. It was during that period, every state in the nation formed wildlife departments and lot of new sanctuaries were set.
“And, later after the rise of globalization and liberalization, wildlife enthusiasm got affected. Why? Because our priorities changed”, he said. The word development sounded like a 'mantra' to the entire world but to me it sounds like a 'dirty' word. Nature, especially wildlife has been plundered in the name of 'development'.
It was at that time in 1968, an 'Animal Protection Institute' was formed in the US. Around the same time, Peter Singer an eminent professor and philosopher from Australia wrote a book called 'Animal Liberation' which evoked for the first time some basic questions to humans about their thinking behind treating animals. Questions like, do we humans really treat the animals fairly? or are we taking things for granted, undeniably kindled the thoughts of the people.
Dawn of PETA
Then came Alex Pacheco, an animal rights activist, who took efforts to start an official entity to protect animals from being exploited. And, that's how the organisation called PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals came into being in 1980. The movement gained momentum as Alex's idea towards protecting stray animals, impacted people widely. Especially, after celebrities like Goldie Hawn joined the movement, the PETA wave hit the shores of many countries.
PETA set foot in India
Thus, slowly infiltrating it's ideologies in many places, PETA set it's foot in the Indian soil. A few celebrities from Mumbai joined PETA which helped them gain popularity and recognition within a quick span of time. As time moved, gradually PETA started to reveal their true 'avatar' which was entirely different from what they stand for in the US.
Back in the US, one of the ultimatum of PETA was to have a check on slaughter houses to ensure if the animals were humanely slaughtered. However, austere monitoring helped them achieve impressive results and saved many animals from being exploited in the labs especially from cosmetic testing and race horses were also saved from administration of steroids.
It's was in the year 2000, PETA's crafty propaganda on vegetarianism sprouted-up, in India vastly. Vegetarianism, in India, is just not about choice of food, but various things like religious beliefs, caste and economic issues are closely knitted to it’.
Starting with vegetarianism, soon PETA began to intervene in things like Jallikattu and stray dogs. Until 1992, we had a law called Destruction of stray pigs, stray dogs and Monkeys Municipal Corporation Act incorporated in 1919. The law was changed in 2001 and since then our stray dogs problem started.
David Jones, Trustee of WWF stated that the growing number of animal welfare people are jumping into the bandwagon of conservation. Initially, in India the term 'conservation' wasn't clear to many. Apart from the English reading crowd, the vernacular speaking people were still ignorant of the term 'conservation'. The situation became topsy-turvy, after enthusiastic and young writers penned down books on birds, butterflies, dragon flies etc., and thus spreading the knowledge about conservation and ecology to the local masses.
How stray dogs plundered wildlife in India?
Stray dogs are a big threat to wildlife in India. Over many years, stray dogs have caused irrevocable damage to wildlife and they have been the predominant reason behind extinction of many species.
While, conservationists are focused on ways and means to protect the wildlife from extinction, the animal welfare groups are worried about the welfare of the stray dogs. It's disgusting that the so-called animal welfare organisations act obtusely to uplift the lives of the stray dogs rather than the people and the ecosystem.
Dwindling blackbucks and sea turtles
A few years ago, two scientists from Bangalore monitored and recorded footage on stray dogs, how they as a pack hunt down and kill two spotted deer near Marvakandi dam near Mudumalai. Similarly, they hunted down blackbucks at the Indira Gandhi National Park and Rann of Kutch leading to dwindling of blackbuck population. The scientists published their research findings in a scientific journal too.
In the Eastern coast of India, particularly in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu Olive Ridley turtles and their eggs were plundered by stray dogs. In Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the population of leatherback sea turtles have decreased drastically by 90%, as these stray dogs prey on the eggs laid by these turtles along the shores.
One of the member of the national board of wildlife has pointed out that in Velavadar National Park, Gujarat the blackbuck population came down from 5000 to 1000, because of frequent stray dog attacks.
The measures proposed to control the stray dog menace by sterilizing the dogs did not prove effective. The alarming increase of stray dog population and leads to dwindling on many wildlife species which plays a major role in balancing the eco-system, under such circumstances, the animal welfare organisations trying to protect stray dogs and its welfare, is meaningless.
Altering the structure of the ecology by exterminating wildlife species will lead to devastating effects.Hence, the animal welfare organisations should stay away from questioning the goals and throwing unsubstantiated claims on conservationist. Instead of hampering the work process of conservationist, constructive thinking to protect our wildlife and ecosystem is the need of the hour!
Lack of support from governing bodies
Unfortunately, all the efforts to protect and preserve the ecology has been one-sided, it's the individuals and private groups to strive hard on the cause. The Government has failed to extend it's support to these enthusiasts in propagating the need for conservation.
In India, the forest department remains largely to be a law enforcement agency rather than working hand-in-hand with these conservationists. It's dis-heartening to learn that the conservationist and researchers are not been given permissions to conduct their research on time. Hence, there is a gap between conservationist and the government. Timely data and statistics obtained through research will help us understand the survival of the species and formulate precautionary measures from protecting the species from threats and extinction.
However, in the recent years it's reassuring to see revival of interest in wildlife. Wildlife has become a matter of interest and importance to many youngsters, who create new groups to widen their understanding on the subject and create awareness among the public on conserving wildlife'.
Yi, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), HSBC bank, as a part of their CSR activity and Yuhina ECO media had jointly organised this session. Speaking at the event, Theodore Baskaran delivered a thought-provoking speech on 'real' conservation of the environment and not the 'reel'. Read on for some great excerpts from his speech!
Beginning of Animal Welfare Organisations:
'Presently, people muddle between animal welfare and conservation. These are entirely two different things with different ideologies. The latter strives to conserve wildlife and preserve the ecosystem, while the former complicates it.
'Animal welfare is an ethical concern, not an ecological one’ said an Indian Naturalist. At best, these efforts have no bearing on wildlife conservation, at worst they defeat it's purpose. The first wave of wildlife conservation came to India during the 70's, particularly after the 1972 Wildlife Act at the Stockholm Conference. It was during that period, every state in the nation formed wildlife departments and lot of new sanctuaries were set.
“And, later after the rise of globalization and liberalization, wildlife enthusiasm got affected. Why? Because our priorities changed”, he said. The word development sounded like a 'mantra' to the entire world but to me it sounds like a 'dirty' word. Nature, especially wildlife has been plundered in the name of 'development'.
It was at that time in 1968, an 'Animal Protection Institute' was formed in the US. Around the same time, Peter Singer an eminent professor and philosopher from Australia wrote a book called 'Animal Liberation' which evoked for the first time some basic questions to humans about their thinking behind treating animals. Questions like, do we humans really treat the animals fairly? or are we taking things for granted, undeniably kindled the thoughts of the people.
Dawn of PETA
Then came Alex Pacheco, an animal rights activist, who took efforts to start an official entity to protect animals from being exploited. And, that's how the organisation called PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals came into being in 1980. The movement gained momentum as Alex's idea towards protecting stray animals, impacted people widely. Especially, after celebrities like Goldie Hawn joined the movement, the PETA wave hit the shores of many countries.
PETA set foot in India
Thus, slowly infiltrating it's ideologies in many places, PETA set it's foot in the Indian soil. A few celebrities from Mumbai joined PETA which helped them gain popularity and recognition within a quick span of time. As time moved, gradually PETA started to reveal their true 'avatar' which was entirely different from what they stand for in the US.
Back in the US, one of the ultimatum of PETA was to have a check on slaughter houses to ensure if the animals were humanely slaughtered. However, austere monitoring helped them achieve impressive results and saved many animals from being exploited in the labs especially from cosmetic testing and race horses were also saved from administration of steroids.
It's was in the year 2000, PETA's crafty propaganda on vegetarianism sprouted-up, in India vastly. Vegetarianism, in India, is just not about choice of food, but various things like religious beliefs, caste and economic issues are closely knitted to it’.
Starting with vegetarianism, soon PETA began to intervene in things like Jallikattu and stray dogs. Until 1992, we had a law called Destruction of stray pigs, stray dogs and Monkeys Municipal Corporation Act incorporated in 1919. The law was changed in 2001 and since then our stray dogs problem started.
David Jones, Trustee of WWF stated that the growing number of animal welfare people are jumping into the bandwagon of conservation. Initially, in India the term 'conservation' wasn't clear to many. Apart from the English reading crowd, the vernacular speaking people were still ignorant of the term 'conservation'. The situation became topsy-turvy, after enthusiastic and young writers penned down books on birds, butterflies, dragon flies etc., and thus spreading the knowledge about conservation and ecology to the local masses.
How stray dogs plundered wildlife in India?
Stray dogs are a big threat to wildlife in India. Over many years, stray dogs have caused irrevocable damage to wildlife and they have been the predominant reason behind extinction of many species.
While, conservationists are focused on ways and means to protect the wildlife from extinction, the animal welfare groups are worried about the welfare of the stray dogs. It's disgusting that the so-called animal welfare organisations act obtusely to uplift the lives of the stray dogs rather than the people and the ecosystem.
Dwindling blackbucks and sea turtles
A few years ago, two scientists from Bangalore monitored and recorded footage on stray dogs, how they as a pack hunt down and kill two spotted deer near Marvakandi dam near Mudumalai. Similarly, they hunted down blackbucks at the Indira Gandhi National Park and Rann of Kutch leading to dwindling of blackbuck population. The scientists published their research findings in a scientific journal too.
In the Eastern coast of India, particularly in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu Olive Ridley turtles and their eggs were plundered by stray dogs. In Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the population of leatherback sea turtles have decreased drastically by 90%, as these stray dogs prey on the eggs laid by these turtles along the shores.
One of the member of the national board of wildlife has pointed out that in Velavadar National Park, Gujarat the blackbuck population came down from 5000 to 1000, because of frequent stray dog attacks.
The measures proposed to control the stray dog menace by sterilizing the dogs did not prove effective. The alarming increase of stray dog population and leads to dwindling on many wildlife species which plays a major role in balancing the eco-system, under such circumstances, the animal welfare organisations trying to protect stray dogs and its welfare, is meaningless.
Altering the structure of the ecology by exterminating wildlife species will lead to devastating effects.Hence, the animal welfare organisations should stay away from questioning the goals and throwing unsubstantiated claims on conservationist. Instead of hampering the work process of conservationist, constructive thinking to protect our wildlife and ecosystem is the need of the hour!
Lack of support from governing bodies
Unfortunately, all the efforts to protect and preserve the ecology has been one-sided, it's the individuals and private groups to strive hard on the cause. The Government has failed to extend it's support to these enthusiasts in propagating the need for conservation.
In India, the forest department remains largely to be a law enforcement agency rather than working hand-in-hand with these conservationists. It's dis-heartening to learn that the conservationist and researchers are not been given permissions to conduct their research on time. Hence, there is a gap between conservationist and the government. Timely data and statistics obtained through research will help us understand the survival of the species and formulate precautionary measures from protecting the species from threats and extinction.
However, in the recent years it's reassuring to see revival of interest in wildlife. Wildlife has become a matter of interest and importance to many youngsters, who create new groups to widen their understanding on the subject and create awareness among the public on conserving wildlife'.