Fwd: Leave the blue bull alone: Lt.Gen. Baljit Singh(Rtd)

[Guest guest]

cape india <capeindia1 wrote: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 21:19:28 +0530

" cape india " <capeindia1

" jeevdaya india " <jeevdaya01, Jaswant <jaswant,

" Sandeep kumar jain " <jeevdaya,

" Dr.Sandeep Kumar Jain " <jeevdaya04

Leave the blue bull alone: Lt.Gen. Baljit Singh(Rtd)

 

Dear Friends ,

Lt.Gen.Baljit Singh is Wildlife Conservationist and wildlife Writer of

Repute.Please send your Comments to The Tribune or Capeindia1

 

Leave the blue bull alone

Lt-Gen Baljit Singh (retd)

 

n zoological nomenclature, the blue bull stands categorised as an antelope.

The blue bull is the largest of all antelopes on the planet. This exceptional

antelope is exclusively found in the Indian subcontinent. The antelope emerges

as a front-runner for the living-world-heritage status.

During Partition, Pakistan inherited a fractional population of the blue bull.

However, unmindful of its unique status, the antelope was hunted to extinction

in Pakistan by the end of the last century, according to TJ Roberts, wildlife

expert.

Admittedly, the antelope has fared much better in India. But its survival is

certainly not an act of patriotic fervour or pride arising from this animal's

singular and endemic status. Rather, the saving grace for this magnificent

antelope so far has been its vernacular name, neelgai, linking it to the sacred

mother cow.

In the process of evolution, the blue bull emerged as one among the dominant

browsers though it was not averse to grazing either. Given the soft, fresh

leaves on the baer tree, the seesham, the kikar and the khair trees to browse

upon, the blue bull will gladly give the go-by to grazing altogether.

Unfortunately, in the new paradigm of agro-economy since the 1960s, these

trees lost out to the quick growing soo-babul, the poplar and the eucalyptus

trees.

The blue bull avoids the soo-babul tree because of its excessive thorns. The

leaves of the poplar and the eucalyptus are too coarse and aromatic for its

palate and generally beyond the reach even of this tall antelope.

These are the few real-life compulsions which drive the blue bull to take to

extensive grazing. But where are the grasses to be found for grazing in the

natural way anymore? So inevitably, the blue bull turns to agricultural crops.

He is a big animal with a large appetite which in all fairness no farmer can be

expected to accommodate.

In the Indian psyche, as the cow is still held sacred so no one will take its

life. But few will have flutters of conscience if the antelope were to be led to

snares, the most cruel death-traps.

What happens to the blue bull next is poignantly captured in chanced

photographs taken close to Dessa (a prominent town in the Banas Kantha district

of Gujarat) at 3.30 p.m. on December 6, 2006.

These photo-images leave nothing to the imagination about the emotional and

physical trauma each of these animals went through; the fear at having been

snared, the physical effort in the struggle to break free and the lingering pain

from lacerations, bleeding and sheer exhaustion. All that and much else tumbles

out of each photograph.

How many got strangulated in the struggle, we shall never know. How many died

or will die slow deaths as the wire-snares imbedded in the fresh around their

necks turn septic, will also remain speculative.

What we know for sure is the extent of physical struggle put up by the animals

to break face. In many cases, the snare wire has penetrated at least two cm deep

in the flesh, in some it has damaged the sight of both eyes and yet in others

the nose-bleed was so excessive that there was about one cm thick crust of

clotted blood on the nostrils.

All attempts to mobilise NGOs and government agencies to organise an effort to

tranquilise the traumatised animals using dart guns, remove the nooses and set

them free once again in their natural garb have fallen on deaf ears. Where are

India's philanthropists and animal rights activists if they cannot stand up for

the world's largest antelope and which is exclusively Indian?

Until all the blue bull in distress are freed of snare-nooses from around

their necks by human intervention, there shall be no atonement for Indians from

Mahatma Gandhi's damnable indictment:

" The worth of a civilian is judged from the manner it treats animals " .

 

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071007/spectrum/nature.htm

 

 

 

--

for Care of Animals & Protection of Environment-India(CAPE-India)

 

 

Dr.Sandeep K.Jain

 

 

Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now