A.I.( artificial insemination) study by I.I.Sc. (Indian Institute of Science) leaves elephants and authorities perturbed

Strange and bizarre events are taking place in Mudumalai hills in the Nilgiri. The hill station located in South India sure is a heavenly place but behind the thick curtains of wooded trees, the eye of the law appears to be violated not just by the regulars but by the new breed of biologists. The idea to increase elephant numbers as planned by scientists at IISc (Indian Institute of Science) and the Wild Life Warden through the use of A.I.( Artificial Inseminations) seems ill timed, ill planned and jinxed.

It appears that scientists interested in increasing the numbers of jumbos in Mudumulai appear to have jumbled up on the long arm of law and ethics. Their experiment to increase baby elephants has been started without getting clearance from the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiment on Animals (CPCSEA)

The Chief Wild Life Warden and concerned investigators in the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore are being interrogated about why they are conducting a study on collection of elephant semen without permission from the committee. CPCSEA consultant Prema Veeraragahavan has observed that neither the forest department nor IISc have bothered to inform the CPSEA. Besides the concerned investigators have not bothered to reply to the show-cause notice issued by the CPSEA.

According to the Chief Wild Life Warden Sukhdev Chakur, the Wild Life Protection Act has given him all the powers to decide whether experiments should or not be conducted on the wild. Besides, Sukhdev does not feel that he has to respond to the letter that the CPCSEA has sent, since he doesn't work for them but for the State Government. With no proper equipment to store the semen, the investigation appears to be an eye wash and defeats the purpose it had planned to serve.

The question that arises in the mind is that, if for millennia, animals have procreated and maintained the population numbers without recourse to artificial means, why should the problem of reduced numbers lead now to such artificial methods of procreation? Especially since the elephant population all over the world has still not reduced to a few hundred and the collection of elephant semen being such a Herculean task.

Behind the camouflage of thickly wooded trees, new breeds of bees also also appear to be born in the flash of an eye. Rare and endangered species of spiders also seem to be weaving their webs all the way to France and other parts of Europe by biosmugglers!

From another perspective, tourists may just have to watch out and be prepared. One may be caught as a biosmuggler leaving Mudumalai if an endangered species of spider or ant hides in the luggage.