KOCHI: A young Nibha would always dream of the wild and the animals that roamed freely there. So, after her graduation in Zoology, she took up a job with the Zoo Outreach Organisation in Coimbatore in 1995, where she specialised in wildlife including elephants and was enrolled in observing and documenting literature for training mahouts. “It was here that I got first-hand experience with these magnificent creatures. My responsibility was to bring out a manual ‘Practical elephant handling’ to teach mahouts how to deal with the animals, especially their psychological and biological needs. My research helped me grow closer to these beings,” she says.
Soon, she decided to get herself trained as a mahout, the only woman in the male-dominated course. However, after spending days in the field, she was struck by the torture and pain that these animals were subjected to, in the process of being domesticated.
“Elephants are generally free-spirited animals who are extremely intelligent. Keeping them in chains and domesticating them is akin to breaking their spirit. They belong in the wild,” shares Nibha, whose experience as a mahout meant travelling with the animals for long stretches in search of food and water. “I had no qualms climbing palm trees to get fodder for the animals. Though I was initially scared of them, I began building a good rapport with the gentle giants. However, if you ask me if it is very challenging to be a woman mahout, I would say, extremely. I don’t think I need to tell you that I am able to walk my elephant for miles and live such a life. No, I can’t,” she smiles.
Her passion for these creatures led to the her collaboration with the Society for Elephant Welfare, an NGO started by Chithra Iyer, working towards the rehabilitation of elephants into their natural habitats. She has also collaborated with an NGO, Uravu in Wayanad to develop various community based conservation and livelihood programmes.
“At the moment, there are over 500 elephants in Kerala. Most of them are used in temple processions and are not treated well enough. At the recent TiEcon, organised in Kochi, I was told that elephants were also the face of tourism in Kerala. Yes, but why should the elephants be kept in captivity and paraded on temple grounds when there are other alternatives to develop tourism. Like construct a sanctuary (akin to a natural habitat) for them where tourists can spend time with the animals,” Nibha said.
The fact that I was invited to talk on elephants at a conference for business entrepreneurs and hoteliers shows the positive approach people are having towards elephant welfare in the state, she adds.
Problems of elephant rehabilitation
“Even if we decide to take the domesticated animals back to the wild, they will find it difficult to survive since their forest counterparts are more competent. They can also be killed by poachers. Also, if you think of bringing the animals together in a sanctuary, one of the big problem is that majority of them are males. They are bound to have fights and lack of female presence will be denying their biological needs. The challenge which we face today is finding mates for these male elephants,” she says. Nibha is in talks with the tourism industry regarding the elephant rehabilitation project.
International recognition
Nibha’s work gained international recognition when a documentary film made by the Icon films, UK, was aired on BBC- Channel 4, National Geographic and the Discovery Channels in 2000. In 2005, Nibha adopted an elephant for rehabilitation and this led to the setting up of the Elephant Care Centre, (ECC), a public charitable trust for the welfare of captive elephants.