Six vets to care for wildlife across state

BANGALORE: It’s a ludicrous ratio: six vets for the state’s diverse wildlife spread across 13 forest circles, borrowed from the animal husbandry department. There may be a world of difference between domestic cats and big cats, but they are expected to adapt to the wild.
In an era of rampant poaching, man-animal conflict and unnatural wildlife deaths, it is up to these six vets who are deputed to the forest department to look into the welfare of animals.Their duties extend right from treating sick animals to rescue missions to shooting tranquillizer darts in a man-animal conflict situation.
The forest department needs one vet for each circle, and though officially, six additional vets have been recruited, the state government is yet to give them their postings. The forest department and minister, though, feel that vets on deputation is a fair approach.
The vets, though, get an unfair deal, as they cannot be accommodated within the forest department. “We can’t give them promotions when they are due. Their careers cannot be structured if they are with us for long,” said Vinay Luthra, principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) and chief wildlife warden, Karnataka.
Luthra admits that deputation brings with it a string of problems. “First they take some time to get trained in wildlife issues. If at the time of being deputed to the forest department they are 3-4 years into their last promotion, they are due for the next promotion after spending around four years with us,” said Luthra. He said a request has been made to the state government to allow the forest department to accommodate vets on deputation at higher grades. The authorities, however, haven’t responded as yet.
Experts feel there is zero incentive for vets to stay back in the forest department, so they return to their parent department as soon as they can.
“In the current scenario, the need is to identify a dedicated, specialized veterinary team. They can then be trained to form a core team and given promotional opportunities within the forest department,” said Dr Thopsie Gopal, former director, Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals, Hebbal.
“Often young vets, just posted on deputation, overestimate the weight of the animal from a distance and use an overdose of tranquillizer. The animal takes so much more time to recover. Such experiments with wildlife are not recommended,” said an expert who works closely with the vets.