Why Thanneer Komban’s carcass was ‘on the menu’ at Bandipur’s Vulture Restaurant

The shocking death of Thanneer Komban, which was tranquilised and captured by Kerala forest authorities from the border district of Wayanad before sending it to Ramapura elephant camp in Bandipur Tiger reserve in neighbouring Karnataka, has thrown up a lot of questions which begged for answers.

Many thought it was given a burial, but the tusker’s body was offered to vultures by the authorities there. It seems the vultures can feast on the tusker for a whole three days and wildlife experts say vultures from as far as Wayand will fly in to join the feast at Vulture Restaurant, a facility created to support the dwindling vulture population.

In other words, the vulture restaurant is a feeding site to provide uncontaminated food for the conservation of the dwindling species of vultures. The idea is to prevent vultures from devouring carcasses containing harmful chemicals or drugs which would again endanger the dwindling species.

Forest authorities and conservationists bring the carcasses of wild animals that die in accidents or after getting electrocuted to feed vultures. Animals which die of diseases are not placed at Vulture Restaurant.

Many pellets were found in the body of Thanneer Komban, indicating that air guns might have been used to prevent the tusker from running amok in densely populated areas where it strayed.

The wounds in the left thigh may have also been caused by the air gun pellets, wildlife experts say.

Trouble in Karnataka
Before creating havoc in Kerala’s Wayanad, Thanneer Komban had gone berserk in many regions of Karnataka too, triggering an uproar by local populations against forest authorities.

Even before forest authorities land up to take stock of the situation, locals resort to firing air guns and even user crackers to dissuade the elephant from troubling their households adjacent to forest areas.

Thanneer Komban was obviously wounded in many such unsolicited forays to crowded human inhabitations. Wildlife experts also think Thanneer Komban finds it difficult to stick to its natural ecosystem within the forest, and that is why it appeared in Wayanad days after it was released to the forests in Karnataka.

Forest officials had got a tip-off a day before it had reached Wayanad that it had been spotted at Chirakkara in Mananthavady municipal limits by 10:30 pm.

The radio-collared troublesome tusker was spotted in the company of two other elephants there.

Forest officials had toed the tusker till it reached Chuttakadavu via Kaniyaram and Palakuli.

But the elephant managed to slip from the vicinity of forest officials under the cover of early morning mist by 5 am.

Then it probably swam across the river to reach Mananthavady by 7.30 am.

If the elephant was closely followed and its path meticulously tracked, the unwarranted situation of it straying into the town and getting tranquilised could have been avoided, according to some wildlife conservationists.

Norms flouted?
There are clear norms to deal with rogue tuskers who stray into human habitations. Wildlife enthusiasts have already petitioned the wildlife division of the  Union Ministry of Forests that such norms to tranquilise and capture tuskers are being blatantly flouted in many instances.

In Thanneer Komban’s case, the main charge against wildlife authorities was that it wasn’t given enough water to drink.

But before it was mounted on a wildlife ambulance for shifting it to Bandipur Tiger Reserve it was given 35 litres of water, officials involved in the operation said.

The timing of the tranquilising shot was another bone of contention. Experts claim that though the ideal time is early 5 am, by the time it was darted, it was almost five in the evening.

Wildlife officials counter this by pointing out that the sanction for darting the elephant came late. They also pointed out that the elephant needs to be in a safe zone before it can be darted, and hence it was delayed.

Thanneer Komban’s ‘pals’
Thanneer Komban along with another tusker and a Mozha, or elephant without tusks, was spotted first on February 1.

By around 11 pm, the elephants reached Godavari in the Tavinjaal panchayat.

It was from here that wildlife officials managed to chase away Thanneer’s accomplices to the wilderness. As they spotted a radio collar atop the tusker, they alerted the Rapid Response Team.

From that time until morning, seven officials of the Begur range tried all tricks to chase away Thanneer Komban, but to no avail. Forest officials expect the tuskers who fled to come back any time and the patrolling teams are keeping a tight vigil round the clock.

Tusker troubles
Before Thanneer Komban, it was Arikomban which made life difficult in Kerala’s hilly forest ranges. The only similarity between these two is that they are tuskers. However, these elephants had different modus operandi and behavioural patterns.

Arikomban had run amok and had thrown three people into thin air, and one of them had succumbed to death. But Thanneer Komban refrained from attacking any humans or creating havoc, though it wandered through the town triggering panic. It did not attack vehicles or cause harm to travellers.

Even though there were a lot of plantain trees in the vicinity of Thanneer Komban’s track it did not cause any damage. The only damage it caused to plantain trees was when it was fleeing after being chased away by the mob by bursting crackers.

But since wild animals can react sharply at any point in time even though they are normally quiet, this is the reason why a sanction was issued to tranquilise the elephant and capture it, before such an eventuality could create trouble in human habitats.

Arikomban is nearly thirty years old and Thanneer Komban is estimated to be 25. Thanneer Komban was born in Belur in Hassan, Karnataka. After it grew, Thanneer Komban chose coffee plantations in Hassan as its area of activity. But Arikomban was spotted in Chinnakanal when it was just a year old along with its mother elephant, locals claim. Arikomban had created havoc in the region and had caused the deaths of seven people as it ventured out to feast on rice, a weakness spotted in its behaviour.

As per a forest department report submitted to the Kerala High Court Arikomban had damaged 180 buildings in 18 years as it unleashed its fury. Thanneer Komban on the other hand has no such “criminal records”. It often just breaks pipes in coffee plantations to relish the flow of water. Arikomban is now undergoing ‘penance’ in forests near Kothayar dam in Tamil Nadu, while the lifeless body of Thanneer Komban is being feasted upon at Vulture Restaurant.