From ixedoc@SULEKHA.COM Mon Nov  1 16:25:45 2004
Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 05:11:07 -0700
From: Arunachalam Kumar 
To: nathistory-india@Princeton.EDU
Subject: Freed from Veerappan, and now free for all

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 From : Dr Arunachalam Kumar

Sandalwood smuggler, poacher and brigand Veerappan ruled the dense
forests of south India like a sheik. His writ ran large, over biota and
habitat. Two and half decades of hunt, has at last yielded results. He
was shot dead in an ambush last week. The jungles of Mudumalai,
Sathyamangalam, Bandipur, MM Hills and Nilgiris can at last breathe free.
The elephant corridors are no traps now, and wildlife can just remain
that, wildlife. Gone are the days when they and their cubs shivered at
the reverberating reports of powerful rifles.

But is the peace ethereal? Is it real? No one knows. With Veerappan
around, even the petty trappers and minor thieves of jungle produce, skin
and claw, the small time poachers, all, stayed away from the forests.
Now, with their nemesis rid, they will stage a comeback with a bang. The
wherewithal of the wildlife officials is limited and their expertise in
policing such large tracts of dense forests is inadequate. Will the
riddance of Veerappan be now replaced with a far more effective, and
larger scale of animal hunting and poaching? I fear so.

Driving through the Bandipur belt, some years ago, I paused to read a
roadside signage. In bold red letters the cautionary sign read (in Tamil)
â^À^ØWarning. This is a Veerappan haunt. trespassers beware .

The sign was erected by the forest department. So powerful was the
stranglehold of this rogue. Not only did the animals cower, but humans
too, shivered. Murders and kidnappings for ransom was the order of the
day. Stay off the jungle was the law. Veeerappanâ^À^Ùs Law. Even the
tycoons that ran the illegal granite blasting and dynamiting industry,
avoided the place. Now it is a free virgin territory. What does the
future hold for the Indian Elephant, the Tiger and the thousands of other
denizens of the zone, is moot.
 

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