Elephant Man Of India Ajay Desai passes away at 63
Pashudhan Praharee Network, 21st November 2020
BENGALURU: Who would you rush to for opinion and understanding on elephant behaviour? The answer most conservationists, wildlife experts, forest officials and even legal experts said was Ajay Desai.
But that won’t be the case any more. Desai left for his heavenly abode in Belagavi on Friday morning after suffering a cardiac arrest in his sleep. He was laid to rest in his home town later in the evening. He was 63.
A noted elephant expert world wide, he was currently part of a Supreme Court-constituted committee to study and prepare a report on Sigur elephant corridor. He along with Praveen Bhargav, Trustee, Wildlife First, and Justice K Venkataraman, former judge, Madras High Court, had inspected the corridor from November 7 to 9, 2020 in Tamil Nadu.
“I was with him a few days ago and we spoke just three days back. The first time I worked with him was when we were part of the Srisailam Tiger Reserve Committee in 2009, after which a report was submitted to then Union minister Jairam Ramesh. Again in the relocation programme in Nagarhole and Mudumalai for the National Tiger Conservation Authority and now as part of a Supreme Court committee. He was interested in elephant behaviour and had extensive knowledge on conflicts,” said Praveen Bhargav.
Noted expert K M Chinnappa said that it was impossible to find such a humble man with so much knowledge. “In one of my interactions, I asked him some elephants raid seasonally, while some often. But there is this one which strikes when no one knows. Why is that? Desai laughed and replied, ‘I am radio collaring him and will tell you’. Within a week, he came back and explained that the elephant had diverted its path,” he recollected.
Desai was a member of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group of IUCN and a co-chair from 2005-15, a two-term member of the state wildlife board, a member of the Karnataka High Court-constituted elephant task force and was a senior member between 2011 and 13. He was part of the Project Elephant Task Force in 2010, where he along with another elephant expert and IISc Prof R Sukumar brought out the report ‘Gaja’. He was currently finalising the National Elephant Action Plan for the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and was advising the ministry on mitigating human-elephant conflict.
He was also a consultant at the Wildlife Institute of India and was presently working as a consultant at GIZ, Indo- German Biodiversity programme to deal with elephant issues in Uttarakhand, Karnataka and West Bengal. Desai was known for his works in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Sukumar recollected his report, prepared with Bombay Natural History Society researchers. “It was a good scientific report through which the movement pattern of elephants and their home range in the Nilgiri Biosphere was known. It was an important contribution.
We worked together as elephant task force members. He came up with the best plans on elephant management issues.” Manoj K, chief conservator of forests, Chamarajanagar, said, “I have lost a beloved friend and an excellent field biologist. He was practical, grounded and true to himself. It’s difficult to fill the void.” Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Sanjai Mohan said, “When GIZ was looking for experts, we suggested Desai as I could not think of anyone with field knowledge like him.”
Source-internet
