In a first, Tamil Nadu forest department decides to release jumbo Rivaldo back in the wild

CHENNAI: For the first time in Tamil Nadu, a wild elephant that was captured and put inside a kraal for close to three months is going to be released back into the wild. The state forest department has decided to give Rivaldo, a popular Asiatic elephant in the Nilgiris, his freedom back.    

Environment secretary Supriya Sahu confirmed to The New Indian Express that the decision to release Rivaldo was taken and the forest department was planning for a soft release. "An intermediate location deep inside the jungle, which is far off from Vazhaithottam village, has been identified where he will be made to acclimatise with local environs before releasing him in the open jungle. The process may take several days or even months," she said.

Supriya Sahu and Chief Wildlife Warden Shekhar Kumar Niraj are already in Mudumalai drawing a foolproof plan and constituted a separate committee to execute it. Both the officials will be visiting the intermediate location, which sources said is somewhere near Abhayaranyam and finalise the timeline of the operation.

The environment secretary said the decision was taken in the best interests of Rivaldo. The ideal place for any wild animal is the jungle, especially for large mammals like elephants whose home range is spread over hundreds of kilometres. "It is not desirable to confine them in captivity until it is absolutely necessary. In Rivaldo's case, we found no reason to prolong his stay inside the kraal," Sahu said.     

The decision was taken after veterinarians and ecologists who were tasked with examining the elephant found that the trunk injury, which Rivaldo was carrying for nearly a decade now, became a permanent disability and he has learnt to live with it and concluded that no possible treatment can be given in such cases.  

In July 2012, Rivaldo lost 30 cm of his trunk after it got caught in a snare set out to kill wild boar. The wild tusker was habituated to living close to humans in the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) often straying out of the forest and feeding on fruits and sugarcane offered by locals.

Chief Wildlife Warden Shekhar Kumar Niraj had personally visited Vazhaithottam village on July 10-11 and held detailed discussions with veterinarians, ecologists and scientists. As per Section 11 of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, a captured elephant cannot be kept in captivity unless the Chief Wildlife Warden is satisfied that such an animal cannot be rehabilitated in the wild and the reasons for the same are recorded in writing.

"I found no reason to keep Rivaldo in captivity. The vets categorically told me that no treatment can be given to Rivaldo to improve his health condition. In such a case, there is no use of putting the elephant inside the kraal, breaking his natural spirits," Niraj told The New Indian Express.

Niraj also said Rivaldo is a bull elephant, whose presence among the wild population is crucial. "We cannot take the bull elephant out of the population. The population growth and original gene dispersion will suffer," he said.

Wildlife conservationists have hailed the decision of the state forest department saying the decision was purely based on science and ecology, not heeding general public sentiment. N Sadiq Ali, founder of Wildlife and Nature Conservation Trust, told The New Indian Express that Rivaldo's release will set a right precedent for all future operations.  

"I still remember the day when I first saw Rivaldo back in July 2012. He was in pain with a maggot filled wound in the trunk. I was the one who reported it to the forest department. He is a very sweet animal which allowed us to treat the wound without much difficulty. Later, a few individuals took advantage of his social behaviour and started feeding him and over the years reduced him to a beggar. This is the reason why he keeps venturing out of the forest searching for an easy meal in human habitations," Ali said.