Heeding the call of the wild

This bunch is passionate about protecting the untamed outdoors, finds Jayashree Nandi

    They lead pretty much the same drab urban lives as we do. While they may work in mainstream corporate jobs, their hearts are in the wild. Kenneth Anderson Nature Society is a group of entrepreneurs and individuals whose passion is to protect the wild. It started with interactions on networking sites, but now, this 51-member group meets regularly, holds campaigns in forest areas and goes for weekend field visits. The ‘road-kill awareness’ campaign which involved stopping cars on highways crossing protected areas and giving them a pamphlet, asking them to drive slow and take care not to hit animals, is one of the most popular ones. 
    “We got to know each other when the save the tiger project was being talked about in the media. Three of us, all part of a networking site group, used to write articles regularly on the issue and also write letters to the forest department. Then, one day, we thought, enough of discussion in the virtual world. Let’s meet up. That’s how we came together,” says Hari Somashekhar, a member of the group. They were also part of the Yahoo group on Kenneth Anderson (popular author of wildlife adventures from South India) for four years. The group used to mostly discuss Kenneth’s work but not much of conservation issues. The members approached Hari and his friends in 2007 and decided to meet up regularly. 
    A large number of wild animals get killed due to road accidents. The Mysore-Ooty highway passes through Bandipur and Mudumalai sanctuaries in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Traffic is high on this highway on weekends and, on an average, 1,000 vehicles commute on these roads over 24 hours according to KANS members. Every weekend, they along with volunteers position themselves at the Kekkanahalla check post on either directions, and briefly stop every vehicle passing through to explain the rules of driving through a Sanctuary and distribute awareness pamphlets. 
    The 25-km-long district road between the Veeranahosahalli and Nagarhole check posts in the Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarhole) National Park has 40 road humps but, over time, the paint had worn out. KANS members and volunteers repainted the humps recently to increase visibility and avoid killing of wild animals thriving on both the sides of the road. 
    They recently distributed uniform kits that included sweaters, caps, shirts, pants, footwear and accessories to 46 temporary watchers of the TN forest department attached to Denkanikotta forest range. 
    Forest guards are considered the foot soldiers of the forest department. They are stationed inside protected areas and are supposed to keep a check on poachers and other threats, but their salaries are meagre. There are confirmed employees who get paid around Rs 7,000 a month but a large number of them are temporary employees who are usually paid around Rs 800 a month. 
    The forest department is usually understaffed and these people are expected to fulfil more than one role. KANS is planning to offer torches to the watchers of Bandipur National Park very soon. 
    “We have spoken to the forest officers there. Initially, we were thinking of giving them uniforms but the DFO told us that they need torches. So, we are organizing funds to equip all of them with torches. An antipoaching camp inside Bandipur’s protected area is also one of the ideas they are trying to implement. KANS members are eager to involve more volunteers. The members meet once every two weeks, and three members visit the field every weekend. They usually travel on their own vehicles and are interested in taking volunteers along for such visits.