Saving the Grasslands & Short Eared Owl !

 

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“Forests should not be just walked on; they should be lived on.” …  Courtney M. Privett

Indeed, what Ms Courtney has said about forests is so perfect as I myself have lived through the forests so many times, rather every moment I have spent in the forests, I have learnt not just to see or listen or inhale the forests but become one with them! As then it doesn’t matter what animal or bird you get to see or how rare the species is but all you have to do is admire the moment & thanks to Almighty for making you lucky to live in these forests around you! Well, if you think I have started to become a bit more philosophic or emotional (or some may say dramatic) then can’t help is as that’s what forests has their enchanting effect on me & of late it’s the grasslands which every time, I am reinventing their wonder or hidden treasures! But then life is living in reality & most of the times reality are bitter to swallow & so is the reality with forests. While enjoying the forests by becoming them, if on one side you enjoy the beauty & serenity of these greens (yellow & grey in case of the grasslands) then on the other side you start feeling the pain of destruction & death also! And no wonder the reason is not nature but we humans especially when it brings pain & death to the forests. At the same time if many humans are the enemies of the forests for any reason {as some reasons may be genuine) then there are few humans who are part of the forests & are friends with them & its solely up to you, which side of the humans you want to join, when it comes about being enemy or the friends of the forests!

Needless to say, no human being will openly accept or choose to become an enemy of the forests (there are few such though) but just saying I am friend of forests & doing nothing doesn’t make you a real friend, right? For example, you don’t know swimming & accidently you fall down in a well, the first thing you will do is start yelling for help that somebody should take you out of the water & then you see a guy up on the ground above & he is your friend or you think so! You call his name, the guy responds & waves at you but takes no effort to pull you out of the well, will you still call him your friend? Same is the way with many so-called friends when its efforts to help the forests to survive, which in my present case is the grasslands, which are wonderful, many humans visit them & admire their beauty, some even gets benefit also from them but nobody does anything to help the grasslands to survive because one they are not friends with the forests & second, they don’t live the forests but just visits, so they don’t understand the pains grasslands are suffering from us!

The reason for getting back to the grasslands was, recently one of my friends, Hemangi, who runs Jungle Belles which is wildlife awareness organization for urban women, has been to the grasslands in eastern outskirts of Pune & she sighted a short-eared owl there & told me about it. I am not a “birder” (its an in thing in the wild lifers) in true term as I don’t go to a place just to see the birds, click their snaps as well can identify them but I like to be part of any wildlife activity or visiting such habitats (except those in the super cold regions). So, the next day alone I went to those grasslands with a local named Amol Kale, a young man who is passionate about the grasslands & work as full-time guide as well tour operator in these areas. Its youngsters like Amol, the hope for the wildlife or the habitats is alive, especially the patches around urban settlements like Pune & many such cities are alive. As Amol not only earns his livelihood by showing the people the beauty of grasslands but study those grasslands in his free time as well try his best to protect these habitats along with the animals found here!

Ok, something about the cause of this trip to the grasslands & then will explain the importance of the role Amol plays here in conservation of grasslands.

The short-eared owl is one of the few species of owl known to migrate, it travels long distances including, reportedly, over vast expanses of ocean. Female is bigger than male like all raptors & interesting thing is that they nest on the ground, at the base of thorny trees like babul in the grassland. Wonder that the bird migrates from extreme cold regions of Europe & yet can survive the arid dry & hot surroundings of grasslands like LRK or at present eastern outskirt grasslands of Pune!

Well, I didn’t know all this info but Amol shared it with me as for me short eared owls are just one category in the species named owls & cute & rare to be seen, so when hemangi told me about it, I went to see it with Amol. To my surprise the pair of these owls was living on a vast stretch of seemingly barren land deserted by most though not all humans. Because there were activities I saw, a pond of horribly smelling black liquid right where the owls were nesting & Amol told its Molasses (Mali) which is a toxic waste from a nearby sugar factory. Also, I saw dumpers (trucks) spreading dust & smoke crisscrossing these lands for carrying murrum excavated from a nearby stone mine. All these are too much disturbance for the owls but the authorities (read as forest dept) will fine Amol & his likes for disturbing the owls, if at all they come to know these are nesting grounds for the owls, this is the irony of our system! Amol told me that when he visited LRK i.e., Lower Rann of Kutch, where he first saw short eared owl, he come to know from the guides there about its habitats as well characteristics such as nesting at the base of thorny bushes in the dry grasslands. This is how he started roaming around such vast lands where he stays in the eastern outskirts of Pune & in one such search, he was able to locate the bird here! No offense to forest dept friends of mine, but don’t you think instead of keeping one or two Honorary WildLife Wardens at only district level, we can create a cadre of such honorary wildlife wardens at all such habitats & allow them some earning also out of such a job? As problem which Amol shared with me was when he objects any illegal hunting or disturbance to these habitats as he doesn’t have any authority, he either gets hooted out by such people or when they come to know that he earns some money by showing these grasslands to the tourists then he gets extortion demands also!

Need of the time is to build a strong team of youngsters like Amol & make them able to survive for their living as well help in conservation of these habitats. Another aspect is to try using the potential of such spots commercially also & I know many so called nature lover’s will frown or raise their eyebrows over this suggestion but if we want to save the grasslands of other such habitats then we must think in a radical way. Because the only threat to the grasslands is by the humans around & if we make them know the grasslands can actually help them to make some money then these people will only protect them, is a simple logic & a fact too! Like the govt supports building an industry in some remote rural locality to make the livelihood better of the people in that locality by offering free land, rebate in taxes or cheaper electricity & water for the industry at such a location. On the same lines, why can’t we think of nature therapy or a luxury resort at such a location which will make more tourists come here as well a good earning way to the locals like Amol, think over guys! These resorts can fetch tourists from all across the country, not just nearby cities, and imagine a night out in open grassland with clear star-lit sky above & in the distance you hear howling of a wolf, wouldn’t it be the best times of your life, I bet, it will be for sure!

That’s why the grasslands may be the subject of my sharing on face but this is the story of every piece of nature around us in all the forms which we call as forests or the habitats & it is story of every Amol Kale too, fighting for making these forests survive; lets join hands to support them as then only we can call ourselves wild-lifer!!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

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