Dwindling Blackbucks put Mowgli’s brothers at peril

Even as Mowgli, immortalised by Kipling in his Jungle Books lives on, the Indian Wolf is perilously close to extinction in Karnataka especially after the recent survey which put total number of Blackbucks-the major prey of the wolves at 458.

The Free People once ran across the entire subcontinent, and were subject to none but the wisest of their own kind. That’s how they could take in the man-cub Mowgli even though Sher Khan demanded his pelt. That’s also why they were called the Free People. Today, there are less than 500 of them in Karnatka.

Remember how quickly Sher Khan, the lame tiger stepped back when faced with an angry mother wolf protecting her cubs in her lair. She was not called Raksha, the Demon, for nothing. Today, tragically, both the tiger and the wolf are on the verge of extinction.

The magnificent wolf packs that once roamed across the vast plains of Karnataka, have almost vanished. Very few are spotted these days, and a survey by Mysore University (scientists) a couple of years ago, found that their population was down to less than 500 across the state, thanks to the moral turpitude of the people and their leaders over centuries.

Indian Grey Wolf (Canis lupus pallipes), belongs to the same breed as the German Shepherd, and two species are native to India – the Grey Wolf which dens in the Deccan Plateau and Tibetan Wolf which lives across the Shivaliks and Greater Himalayas. Karnataka’s vast plains and dry grasslands, spanning 1,23,330 sq km stretch from Bangalore rural, Tumkur, Chitradurga, Davangere, Haveri, Bijapur to Belgaum district, and wolves once occupied the entire plains land.

Hunting for their meal and killing anyone who threatened their young, wolves were delicately balanced with the ecology of the region, the population rising and falling in tune with the cyclic periods of famine and plenty that crisscrossed the Deccan Plateau. However, with the coming of British, the scales tilted and the wolves never roamed freely again.

Through the 1980s, wolves were killed whenever they were spotted as they were believed to be baby lifters. According to Sanjay Gubbi, each wolf requires about 225 sq km of area to live and in the midst of exploding population it is hardly possible to find such a vast stretch. “Even though the government has created a sanctuary for wolves at Melkote in Mandya district, the habitat of the sanctuary filled with dry deciduous forest is not conducive for them and they need thorny, bushy and rocky area. Hence they are more visible in Tumkur, Chitradurga and Ranibennur which has a considerable amount of black buck and grassland,” explains a conservationist.

“Known for ferociousness and hunting skills, wolves were declared vermin by British and mass slaughter of wolves were ordered between 1875 and 1925 and nearly 2,00,000 wolves were killed during the 50-year period,” according to a study by Mahesh Rangarajan. After independence, increase of agricultural lands, urbanisation, mining and stone quarrying took its toll on their habitats along the plains, says Mohan Pai, a wildlife researcher.

Adding to their woes, their prey density has dwindled considerably. The shrinking habitat and decreasing prey density led to wolves preying on sheep, goats and other livestock. This has lead to increased conflict with humans. “As an act of revenge, many villagers have resorted to mass slaughtering of wolves by covering their dens with grass and thorns and putting fire to it. This not only kills the adults, but also pups and thus the entire species,” laments Sanjay Gubbi, a practising wildlife conservationist.

Blackbuck Photo: Wikipedia

Wolf Photo: Abi Tamim Vanak