NEW IND PRESS (Chennai, India) 27 October 06 Wet and wild (Romulus Whitaker)
In the Malnad region of Karnataka is Agumbe, a place that has drawn the attention of conservationists worldwide. For it is home to the only permanent rainforest research station in India. Established by Chennai-based herpetologist Romulus Whitaker, the research station will facilitate the study and conservation of the rainforests of South India, using the King Cobra as the flagship species.
This will be the first detailed study on any species of snake in India, says Whitaker. To research and understand the basic biology of the King Cobra, an endangered species, experts from various fields have been roped in. “Meteorology, botany, GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping are all tied into the behavioural study of the King Cobra. Dr Irfan of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore, is also collaborating with my son Nikhil for this purpose,” says Whitaker.
In the long run, Whitaker hopes to help the state of Karnataka establish the world’s first King Cobra Sanctuary. “Our role would be purely advisory and we are already in touch with the Chief Wildlife Warden regarding it, but it will take years,” he says. A biodiversity database of the area is also being put together. “The Western Ghats is still popping out secrets,” says Whitaker. “In fact, Dr Biju is studying more than 100 new species of frogs there.”
Whitaker’s association with Agumbe and the King Cobra dates back to the 70s. “I used to visit Agumbe in the early 70s while I was still establishing the Snake Park in Chennai,” says Whitaker, who is also the founder of the Madras Crocodile Bank and the Irula Cooperative Society. In 1972, he caught two King Cobras for the Snake Park, one of the things that helped launch it. “Keeping snakes in captivity may not be great but it helps build awareness,” he says.
The King Cobra, which is found in India from Kanyakumari to Goa, Assam and Arunachal, the Sunderbans and parts of Orissa, is an endangered species. It is also the world’s largest venomous snake. “We have no idea of how big the population in India is but it is in danger everywhere as people kill it," says Whitaker. "Only a few communities revere it, others are afraid of snakes.”
The dream of building the research station received its first impetus when Whitaker’s mother Doris Norden willed him money that enabled him to purchase eight acres of land in Agumbe. A reserve forest, Agumbe is adjacent to one of the last surviving lowland rainforests, Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Kudremukh National Park. Then, in 2005, Whitaker received the UK’s top conservation prize, the Whitley Award, for his project — King Cobra as a flagship species for the vanishing rainforests of Western Ghats.
The award, which carried a £30,000 cash prize, helped set up cottages, buy basic scientific equipment, and a vehicle. “It was pivotal in setting up the station as we were totally drained of finances,” says Whitaker.
The station, as it is now, is eco-friendly. It is not connected to the electricity grid and has its own solar power and micro hydel unit. “We have our own electricity and water as well as smooth wire fencing so that deer and leopards passing by don’t hurt themselves,” says Whitaker.
The buildings — two cottages for researchers and a refurbished farmhouse that acts as a hub for the research station — were designed by Srikumar M Menon, an architect who teaches at the Manipal Institute of Technology, and his students.
The station is also focusing on stream ecology. “We are trying to have a database of what lives in these streams,” says Whitaker. Apart from stressing on local participation, the station strives to come up with imaginative alternatives to problems. “Village women wash clothes in streams, we are seeing how the streams can be diverted to washing places to avert pollution,” says Whitaker.
A three-pronged approach involving research, education and conservation has also been adopted. The education officer on site, P Gowri Shankar, regularly visits schools, giving lecture demonstrations on snakes and conservation. “This programme has been on for a year and we want to expand it,” says Whitaker.
Apart from attracting researchers from India as well as abroad, the station has also been drawing school students from Bangalore who interact with the local school children. “The idea is to give urban children an experience of life in the wild,” says Whitaker. Keeping this in mind, a dorm for children is in the pipeline.
Whitaker also plans to set up Naturenet Café, an internet café with high speed broadband and intranet connectivity. It will be open for use to local farmers who can find the best market prices for their produce, school students as well as the general public.
He also plans to make the station self-sufficient through research grants and also by setting up an information base in the village that would be well stocked with books and CDs on wildlife. “It would be useful as lakhs of tourists pass through on the way to Sringeri,” he says. A micro hydel and solar powered laundry is also on the cards. “Nothing ever dries here as the area receives about 10,000 mm rainfall annually,” says Whitaker. “It is impossible to put on a dry shirt.”
— For more information on the research station, you can mail serpentcatcher@yahoo.com or
contact 08181223081
Wet and wild