Sanctuary Asia – July 2019

Sanctuary |In the Field

Allaying the fears of locals living with the muggers, and educating them on their critical service

to waterbodies helped foster coexistence.

Muda talab in the Janjgir-Champa district of Chhattisgarh harbours a sizeable mugger population and has become increasingly popular with tourists.

“When farmers start before dawn to prepare the fi eld for sowing, they tilt their buff alo carts to act as a ramp for a mugger

to climb up. On reaching the waterbody, the cart is tilted again to allow the muggers to slide out into the waterbody.”

them a lift to the waterbody. Muggers

make their land-water movements early

in the morning here. When farmers

start before dawn to prepare the fi eld

for sowing, they tilt their buff alo carts

to act as a ramp for a mugger to climb

up. On reaching the waterbody, the

cart is tilted again to allow the muggers

to slide out into the waterbody.” Baba

narrates this with childlike joy in his

eyes. In Kotmi, there have been only a

few stray instances of mishaps involving

muggers and humans.

DEATH WISH

After the failed attempt of fi nding the

mugger in the fi eld, we return to his

home, the Ram temple. Baba points

towards the three ponds adjoining the

fi elds and concludes that it could have

walked into any one of them. At the

temple, he serves me with cow’s milk

and I let the naturalist in him expound

on the muggers in the area. “They love

eating fi sh. Turtles are also relished and

I have also seen them eating babies

of other crocodiles. For nesting, they

dig burrows in soft mud by the ponds

in summer. Once the rains arrive, the

thunder and lightning assist in cracking

the eggs open.” Modern crocodilian

science may discard this observation,

but ‘The lost hero of science’ Alexander

Specialist Group, chaired by Hugh B.

Cott. India responded with the Wildlife

(Protection) Act 1972, which extended

protection to all three of its crocodile

species plus a host of other plants and

animals. By 1976, the Madras Crocodile

Bank Trust had been established by Zai

and Romulus Whitaker to safeguard

crocodiles. All this, while other

developments were also taking place in

the central Indian region of Kotmi Sonar

where Baba was protecting crocodiles

and their habitats. According to Baba,

serving Lord Ram meant serving the

creatures around us. Jogia talab was

gradually turned into a monitored,

relatively safe hatchery for muggers.

The world was, of course,

totally unaware of Baba, and he,

the world.

“Usually they do not require any

special care, but some farmers give