Thiruvananthapuram: Forest officers in the state these days will remind one of the maverick entrepreneur Joy Thakkolkkaran. Like Thakkolkkaran in Ranjith Shankar's 'Punyalan Agarbatis,' these officers spot captive elephants, keep a safe distance and then restlessly wait for them to defecate. They are after fresh dung. Not for any quixotic purpose like the manufacture of agarbatis but for a scientific purpose: to extract the DNA of the elephant.
The State Forest Department has begun an elaborate exercise to create a DNA profile of all captive elephants in the state. This is the first time that DNA profiling is being done for elephants. The objective: to put an end to the illegal trade in elephants.
The microchip has been found too inadequate as an identification tool. There are widespread complaints that microchips of dead elephants are being taken out and inserted into elephants smuggled in from Bihar or Assam. It was one such complaint registered by K Venkitachalam of Heritage Animal Task Force that has prompted the Forest Department to launch the DNA profiling drive.
Mostly, it is blood samples that are collected. Dung is preferred as sample in the case of elephants in 'musth,' a period during which these animals are said to be highly unpredictable, and also when they are found nervous. Two popular elephants in the festival circuit, Pampady Rajan and Nedumkunnam Ganapathy, had their droppings taken as both were in 'musth.' The sample extraction process, which is coordinated by assistant forest conservators in each district, is almost complete.
Read: How Kerala kills its captive elephants young
The collected dung and blood samples have been sent to the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology in Thiruvananthapuram, where each will be analysed for its unique DNA characteristics.
Bloody excuse
Earlier, in 2011, there was a move to create a DNA database of elephants. But then, blood alone was the sample. “This made it convenient for elephant owners to block veterinarians from going anywhere near their elephant saying it was in 'musth' and any invasive procedure could provoke the beast. The owner also had the fear that a blood sample would reveal the ailments that an elephant was suffering from at that point, like tuberculosis. Such a discovery would have prevented him from using the elephant for festivals or other remunerative work. This non-cooperation finally led to the programme being called off,” a top Forest Department official said.
So this time, to give elephant owners no excuse, the non-invasive dung sampling was also included. True, there is no DNA in the dung. But it will be there in the cells that get attached to the dung bolus or the digested mass as it squeezes through the elephant's alimentary canal, especially through its intestinal system. “This is why we need the dung fresh,” a forester in Nilambur said.
Nontheless, the collection of captive elephant dung requires patience. A wild elephant, because it consumes a large quantity of fibre-rich food, clears its bowels 17-18 times a day. But a captive elephant, which consumes too much of protein, is a reluctant defecator. “If we are lucky, they will relieve themselves four or five times. Waiting for an elephant to eject dung stretches your tolerance,” a forester in Nilambur said.
The microchip racket
But it is worth the wait. A DNA profile, like fingerprints, is inherent, and unique. But microchips are alien insertions that could be toyed with in any manner possible.
It was officially put out in 2008 that the state had microchipped 702 elephants. But in 2012, it was revealed that besides the microchipped jumbos there were nearly 70 elephants that came from Bihar and Assam. They too were supposedly microchipped as their custodians were in possession of their microchip certificate.
But when a microchip reader was run through their bodies, it was found that at least 20 of them with microchip certificates did not in reality have a microchip inserted under their skin. The certificates, in short, were forged. In many other cases, the microchip on the elephant did not match the number on the same elephant's microchip certificate.
Reincarnation in jumbos
Both the cases – the absence of a chip and the presence of a wrong one - generally goes unverified as it is difficult to verify the microchip during a festival. “Once an elephant is decked up for a festival, it is hard to go behind its ear with a microchip reader,” said Sunil, a former state veterinarian. Venkitachalam has submitted video proof of microchip-free elephants paraded at Thrissur Pooram to the Project Elephant. “The videos in our possession show that during the last Thrissur Pooram elephants with fake identities were paraded,” Venkitachalam said.
Lately, it has come to light that microchips of dead elephants were recovered and inserted in smuggled elephants. At times, it feels like reincarnation. The chip of a 62-year-old elephant that died two years ago was recently found in a 20-year-old tusker. “The law says that the government should take over the tusks of a dead elephant. In fact, all that is left of the dead elephant is government property. It is therefore strange that the Forest Department has not insisted that owners should return the microchips of dead elephants, said Manilal of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
