This ex-forester passes on his zeal for conservation to children

HIS ornery demeanour could leave you with an impression that he is rude anddispassionate. But it’s an essential ingredient of K.M. Chinnappa’s aggressiveprotectionism that’s made him thoroughly unpopular with laissez-faire officials.It’s also helped him preserve the sanctity of the Nagarhole National Park inKarnataka for 20 years. And post-retirement, a mix of his tough talk, inestimableintegrity and steely determination have furthered his crusade for conservation of forestsand wildlife.

This lone ranger is now striving to raise an army of conservationists — fromschool and college students, teachers and foresters and villagers— through theNagarhole Wildlife Conservation Education Project (N AW I C O E D). He launched thismission after going through an ordeal that could pass off as a piece of dramatic fiction.As the Range Forest Officer at Nagarhole, Chinnappa’s zeal to curb poaching andsmuggling won him more enemies than friends. Unruly tourists and ‘frolicsome’officials were prevented from turning the national park into a watering hole; wealthycoffee - growers were forced to detour their loaded trucks between dusk and dawn in orderto reduce hit-and-run accidents with wildlife. The upshot: Chinnappa was framed in twomurder cases within a span of four years, his house ransacked and part of the park setablaze when a coffee planter’s body was found with bullet wounds inside the forest in’92. Both cases came unstuck following an inquiry, but this upright official pressedfor voluntary retirement as he could not endure destruction of his home, the nationalpark.

At 58, Chinnappa feels he ought not to remain a solitary voice but be a prime force tospeak up on issues of conservation. "It’s a hell of a job to motivate peopleabout wildlife conservation, but I won’t give up," he says. So, N AW I C O E Dis his platform to propagate the necessity of protecting nature. This organisation hasinitiated basic yet informative courses in order to enhance the involvement of youth andpeople living around game sanctuaries. Pamphlets detailing the destruction wrought byforest fires are handed out, there ’s one for foresters and guards where they aregiven tips on detecting poachers as well as the use of weapons against these marauders.Besides, slide shows on wildlife are held for about 1,000 school teachers at orientationprogrammes held by N G Os .

But Chinnappa devotes more time to nature camps for students, a day-long session heldin one of the many game sanctuaries in K a rnataka. As they trek across the sanctuary, thechildren are given the lowdown on various types of forests, plants and wildlife, the linksin the food chain, how animals like the lion-tailed macaque, snakes and wild boars work asnatural biological control entities to prevent the outbreak of epidemics in forests. Suchminute details as the gestation period and average life span of creatures from butterfliesto elephants are passed on to the children, as well as tips on how to identify animalsfrom their tracks. All this to help kindle concern for wildlife. The number of studentswho have participated in such workshops so far: 40,000.

Charishma Sanjay, a class XII student who was at a camp in Nagarhole last week, said:"It’s a totally new experience. Because of the way Chinnappa explains the issue,we can grasp a lot about wildlife conservation. Surely, some of us will take toconservation as a hobby." Chinnappa thus walks tall, figuratively as well asliterally (he’s six-foot-four). A certificate of appreciation from the New YorkZoological Society, the Bagh Sevak award from Tiger Link, and the Chief Minister’sGold Medal for conservation of wildlife underscore his calibre .

He’s sure that none of the students who have attended his camps will turn intopoachers. "Some children have returned air guns they got as gifts," he says. Buthis sessions end with a terse message: save the tiger now or future generations will onlybe able to see a tiger in huli vesha (a folk dance where men dress up as tigers).If you want to join his brigade, write to: K.M. Chinnappa at Nagarhole WildlifeConservation Education Project, PB No. 50, Srimangala (South Kodagu), Pin 571217, or call08274-46288.