The strongest emotional bond in the world, whether it be between humans or between humans and animals, is believed to be the bond of love. Such a unique camaraderie was witnessed when Mohammad Arif who belongs to Mandhka village in Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh met his separated ‘friend’, a Saras crane, at the Kanpur zoo days after the forest department officials took it away from him.
An FIR was also registered against Arif for flouting the Wildlife Protection Act, of 1972. It is notable that Saras is the ‘state bird’ of Uttar Pradesh and it is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 (amended in 2022).
In the video of Arif’s meeting with his friend whom he affectionately calls ‘baccha’, the bird was seen overwhelmed at the site of his friend. It can be seen in the video how the Saras crane spread its wings and was trying to find its way out of the enclosure to meet Arif.
In an Instagram post, Arif shared a video of the moment he met ‘baccha’ and captioned it as “Kaidiyon ki tarah reh raha mera dost Saras” (my friend Saras is staying here like a prisoner).
It is pertinent to recall that Arif found the Sarus crane in August 2022, when it was bleeding, unconscious, and in need of medical attention. Arif initially thought the bird to be dead, but upon realizing it was still alive, he brought him home. The bird recovered in his home, but instead of flying away, it accompanied Arif around, the videos of the same went viral on social media leaving people amazed by the human-bird bond.
Odisha woman and her bond with a wild boar
In 2021, a woman named Kuntala Kumari Penthei belonging to the Purushottampur village in the Keonjhar district of Odisha fostered a wild boar whom she named ‘Dhuda’. Kuntala had been taking care of the wild boar she found months ago as it reportedly came to her during her daughter’s funeral. The wild boar became a part of Kuntala’s family until the forest department got to know about this and arrived at her home on March 9, 2021, to take the wild boar away and release it in the jungle. Following the separation, a devastated Kuntala desperately searched for ‘Dhuda’.
The emotional reunion
Eight days after the forest officials took the wild boar away from Kuntala, the villagers reportedly noticed the movements of a wild boar in the Kamalang reserve forest and informed Kuntala about the same. A sanguine Kuntala along with her daughter Rajashree rushed to the jungle and identified the boar as it came running to her when she called her name, ‘Dhuda’. An overwhelmed mother-daughter duo then fed the wild boar some raw rice and brought it back home.
It is notable that wild boar is listed under Schedule III of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. Even though they are not endangered as those on Schedules I and II, animals in Schedule III are nevertheless protected. The Act prohibits capturing or hunting them.
Khairi the tigress and a forest officer who raised her as his own daughter
In October 1974, a little tiger cub was found in Odisha’s Similipal forest by local tribals hunting for honey. The cub was brought to IFS Officer Saroj Raj Chaudhury at his official bungalow in Jashipur, Mayurbhanj. Chaudhury, an expert wildlife conservator, cared for the little tigress as his own daughter. She was named Khairi, after the river where she was found. Khairi grew fast and provided ample opportunities for forest researchers to study the royal cats in the initial days of India’s tiger conservation efforts.
Khairi’s bond with Chaudhury and her familiarity with humans made it possible for wildlife researchers to learn significant details about tiger behaviour, territorial markings and pheromones.
The touching story of Khairi is immortalised in 'Khairi The Beloved Tigress' where aspects of tiger behavior, like territorial markings by spraying uric lipid pheromones as a sign of territory deduced. Khairi still roars in Simlipal jungles as the legends never die…🐅 (4) pic.twitter.com/fVYgdFhCrZ
— Sandeep Tripathi, IFS (@sandeepifs) July 12, 2020
Chaudhury and his cousin Nihar cared for the little Tigress like their family member. Chaudhury went on to be known as one of the pioneers of Project Tiger. The tigress was also very familiar with Odisha’s then CM Nandini Satpathy. Khairi used to roam freely in the forest office area and slept on the bed. She used to follow Chaudhury around like a pet cat. In 1982, Khairi died of rabies. Chaudhury died in the same year.
Provisions of punishment under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
According to Section 51, anyone who violates any of the Act’s provisions—aside from those concerning the trade, commerce, and taxidermy of specific animals and the ban on teasing animals in zoos, which have separate penalties—shall be subject to a sentence of up to three years in prison, a fine of up to Rs. 25,000, or both. This includes any violation of a rule, directive, or restriction imposed by a licence or permit.
The latest amendment to the 1972 Act, which was passed on August 2, 2022, upped the penalties to one lakh rupees. A fine of Rs 25,000, up from the previous Rs 10,000 fine, may be imposed with or without a sentence of three to seven years in jail if the offence under the first two Schedules relates to animals.
According to Section 57, it shall be presumed that a person is in “unlawful possession, custody, or control” of any captive animal when “it is established that a person is in possession, custody, or control of any captive animal” or its article, meat, trophy, or uncured trophy during prosecution for an offence under the Act. It is the accused’s responsibility to adduce evidence to the contrary.
Should laws be implemented without considering exceptions?
While protecting the animals listed in Schedule I to IV of the Wildlife Protection Act is the duty of the authorities, it should also be taken into consideration that the animal in the cases of Arif and Kuntala the animals were not held captive or tormented in any manner and were rather free to roam around and apparently chose to stay back like domesticated animals.
As populations grow and forests shrink, stories of man-animal conflict are a regular feature in newspapers. However, the Saras bird’s connection with Arif seems to be one rare example where humans and wild animals have opened their hearts to each other.
This may be one of the cases where the authorities should draw an exception to the existing laws and find a way where the Saras and Arif get to see each other more often, and the Saras bird gets a bigger, better, and happier space than that small cage.
