latika Nath, the first woman wildlife biologist and photographer talks to Ramya Palisetty about the challenges in protecting endangered species and wildlife conservation
latika Nath is used to doing unusual things in her life. When not regenerating a forest land, she can be seen happily clicking pictures of the most ancient tribes in Omo valley in Ethiopia. But that is not the only thing that the first woman wildlife biologist who has worked on tigers and studied at Oxford has achieved in a span of two decades. She has revived a part of Kanha, and also worked with communities around it.
Out with her latest coffee table book, Hidden India which has her pictures and text by Shloka Nath on Indian felines, she looks comfortable ensconced in a lounge chair at Safari Bar at The lodhi. The newly-opened bar plays gallery to her photographs of the animal kingdom. Her pictures are unique as they are imbued with almost human expressions on wild animals. So, you can see a tiger peeping out from behind a tree as if playing peek-a-boo or a hog deer fawn with the most innocent face.
She started photography as a hobby when she began recording animal behaviour for her research. “I have always been surrounded by photographers. My dad and my grandfather were keen photographers. I grew up where photography was part of the house,” she says.
Nath has maintained records of Indian wildlife through her books and photographs and she is extremely concerned about the abysmal quality of the parks and in effect the looming threat of tiger extinction. And the reasons are manifold. “For the anti-poaching squads posted in small parks, the facilties are limited and it is a very tough life. While the army gets a hardship allowance, these individuals have nothing. It is almost like punishment being posted in these areas. Moreover, there is no adequate training for evidence gathering and there isn’t enough legal support. How do they create an informer network, how do they gain the trust of the villagers, how do they create it and maintain it are some of the issues that they are constantly confronted with,” she says with candour.
To further add to the mess, there is a strange division of power between the state and centre. Moreover, the way the parks are created is inhumane where they drew lakshman rekha and kicked everyone out. “If you have a house in the village and one morning you wake up and someone has drawn a line saying that the dry area is yours and the water is ours, that is not correct. Similarly, if you catch poachers, how long do they stay in prisons, what happens to the prosecution after they are in prison, are there any rehabilitation programmes so that they have a new skill —that is all missing,” she says.
And that is one of the reasons that she supports Wildlife SOS and Kartick Satyanarayan who has done a lot single-handedly. “He stopped the dancing bear trade in India and took off 628 bears off the streets. He has given vocational training to bear handlers and their wives,” she says.
Additionally, he has worked with elephants. “To own one, you need a license and proof that you can maintain an elephant, can take care of the medical aid and have mahouts to look after. People just go into the jungle, catch a baby and sell it illegally so there is no monitoring and they are badly abused. Kartick found a female elephant which was 1800 kgs overweight as she was only fed on offerings at a temple — mithai and fried food. She had no exercise and at 30 years, her knee joints had given in. There was another skeletal one whose skin was stretched as it was not fed at all. The condition of elephants in Kerala who are tied with chains that have spikes are permanently wounded with gangrene which is pitiable,” she says. So she supports Wildlife SOS which is working on rescuing animals and giving them a new life. “There is a care centre within 3 km of Yamuna where they swim, enjoy with each other and have fruits,” she says as they are desperately trying to get money for hospitals, X-ray machines and so on.
She points out that in Rajaji National Park where she undertook a study in 1988-89, things haven’t changed at all. “There is ammunition dump, Ganga canal and the railway line as well as a Gujjar conflict, all of which is not being solved due to lack of political will. She believes a lot more can be done but isn’t happening because there is population pressure.”
Nath has done a lot of work in Singinawa which was 54 acres of land —36 acres was forestland and rest was grassland. “We made 12 cottages of stone where no concrete was used and no tree was cut for building them. The place had been a dump earlier and individuals were cutting off trees. We took 10 years to restore it to its original glory. With time, it became a prime forest land with tigers, leopards, chital, bears and wild dogs.The barasingha used to visit us in the monsoon,” she recalls.
But she made sure to involve the local communities. “I worked with tribals all through the year. We talked about tribal art and music, cooking and cuisine and we were lucky enough to record their knowledge of traditonal medicine and oral folklores. Out of curiosity, I studied their tattoos as well. The tribals stayed with me and went to the other lodges, selling their work. I undertook quite a lot of projects while I was there— I worked with villagers for MIT Boston, we tried to make plastic free villages, garbage walks were cleaned twice a year. We also worked extensively on education,” she remembers. To further involve the local community in celebration, they shut down Singinawa for five days and kids were invited to stay in the super luxurious resorts where they would do finger painting, treasure hunts and a lot of fun activities. There would be elocutions, debates, computer classes, science project and much more. Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, she has had to sell it off.
And she found it all worth the effort as “When you sit in the centre of Bandhavgarh alone, you get to spend quality time with the beautiful feline creatures. The intimacy and the way they communicate with you urges an individual to want to do their best towards protecting them. You know you can make a difference and you hold on to that belief,” she says.
When she is in any national park, her schedule is dictated by it. “I would wake up at 4.30 in the morning and I am out by 5.15-5.30. On day shifts, I am out all day till sundown and while on night shifts, I am out the entire night. Often for 16 hours. When I took up photography, my schedule changed as it depends on the light conditions,” she says.
She has a deep connect with the animal world and believes in giving them names. “Calling them B1 or B2 sounds like naming them as vitamin pills,” she says with a laugh. She recalls the moment when she met Jane Goodall and her chimps which was like Hollywood walk of fame for her. “Each had a name which I knew, and their family history. Anthropomorphic dealing with animals is not wrong as they are individuals with different characteristics.
Coming to future plans, she is working on a book on Ethiopia. “I got fascinated by Ethiopia as I wanted to see the Ethiopian wolf, which is one of the rarest in the world — there are only 300 left. I also wanted to see lucy, the earliest hominid ancestor which is a female skeleton from Ethiopia. So, the need to meet lucy, Gelada baboon and Ethiopian wolves took me to the country. Then there is this amazing place, Omo which has the most ancient tribe and I went there which changed my whole worldview,” she says.