The monsoon flood in Kanha – Story of Pattewala
In the heart of central India, around 6-7 years back in forests of Kanha the monsoon turned violent, heavy rain lashes the forest, and all the seasonal rivers swell to more than their capacity. The most part of the Tiger Reserve was flooded, be it grassland or the jungle, floodwater was everywhere. The flow of the swollen rivers was very high, it seems it will remove everything from the forest. Animals have taken shelter on higher ground but not all of them were lucky. A few washed, animals, bird nest, young chicks, it was a survival of the fittest.
In that heavy rainfall there is a place where young cubs in an isolated place were desperately waiting for their mother to come and rescue them. A litter of Mundidadar female, who died just a day or two before to unknown reason.
If a tiger mother died then the future of her cubs is mostly uncertain, especially if they are too young to survive on their own. In one case a father has sired his two female cubs when their mother died in Ranthambore and in another one when the mother died, her mother’s sister has taken the charge and sired the cubs of her sister in Sanjay-Dubri tiger reserve. But these cases are isolated and very few.
For a tigress survival of her cubs is always a priority and the most unfortunate thing is that when she was with her cubs everyone including other tigers is her enemy. She must keep them safe from co-predators like leopards and wild dogs including other tigers. When she came out, the deer and monkeys started giving alarm calls so that the whole jungle should know about her movement, even when she was not hunting and just shifting her cubs from one location to another safe location.
If mother of those cubs were alive, she must have shifted them to the higher ground or some safe location, but fate had other plans. As I said earlier, the rain wanted to remove everything from the forest. The litter fell to the cruel hands of destiny; flood swept away all cubs. But there is proverb in Hindi language, which means “he whom God protects, no one can kill”. One cub in the litter, though was very young but was desperate to survive. Somehow, he manages to climb a piece of wood which carried him through the flow of the swollen river.
The Rescue of the cub
A team of forest guards were doing the toughest job of Indian tropical forest, ‘Monsoon Patrolling’. The forest guards braved the flood and torrential rain to make sure that the animals and jungle are safe from the encroachers and poachers. Monsoon is the time when most of the forest areas are inaccessible and the poachers and encroachers takes advantage of that, though it is inaccessible for them as well but somehow, they manage to enter in the area which is accessible from the village side and kill the animals or cut the trees.
So, the team of forest guards were doing their monsoon patrolling and suddenly one of them shouted “look there is a tiger cub, floating on a piece of wood”. All were surprised to see, they informed their officers and then the process of rescue was started. The team arrived with professional rescuers, but it was not an easy task; the floodwater was gushing, and the rapid was so strong, but ultimately the cub was rescued. The team tried to find the other cubs from the litter, but they were disappointed, with no trace of remaining cubs.
After this rescue the forest department decided to give this rescued cub another chance to live free. They shifted him to the newly constructed rehabilitation center in Kanha to train him in the skills necessary to survive in the forest. But before continuing his story we will first learn about the wild rehabilitation.
What is wild rehabilitation:
The topic of wild animal rehabilitation raises numerous questions. Why do we rehabilitate wild animals? Which species needs rehabilitation, and when should it be done? It’s difficult to answer precisely, but for us, rehabilitation is necessary for species that are fewer in number or highly endangered. Rehabilitation is mostly when they are fit enough to survive in the jungle. Most of the animals for rehabilitation are kept in zoological parks or rescue centers.
There is a dedicated department in most zoological parks known for conservation breeding, where animals are kept away from human imprints and in a natural environment. The purpose of keeping them is to release them into the forest as needed. All endangered species in India are covered in the conservation breeding program, and zoos, mostly located close to their natural habitat, are the coordinating zoos with three to four participating zoos.
Zoos exchange animals with each other to avoid inbreeding and to maintain pure genetically strong individuals.
The Ghorella Enclosure
In Kanha Tiger Reserve, in the year 2006-07, an enclosure was created to rehabilitate the tigers in the wild. It was not an ordinary enclosure; the whole plan is to create a place where an orphaned tiger cub gets his schooling under the observation of the forest department, but without any human imprinting. The enclosure is divided into three parts: the bigger part, which is 35 hectares and has an 8-foot-high fence; a small enclosure within the big one, which is 8 hectares in area and has tiger-leopard-proof fencing around it; and the third part is attached to the small enclosure, which is a quarantine center where the rescued tigers are kept initially.
The enclosure is primarily designed for orphaned tiger cubs, and the idea originated when a tigress died in Kanha, and her three cubs were rescued by the forest department. The rescued cubs were trained in the enclosure and then rehabilitated in the tiger reserves. One of the female cubs of the first batch was shifted to Panna Tiger Reserve, where all the tigers were locally extinct; now, Panna has more than 70 tigers.
The Process of Rehabilitation
When a cub is rescued, it is initially kept in the quarantine center after initial medical checkups. Depending upon the age, they are fed milk or meat, live hen, and then live goat. When they are 14-15 months old, they are released into the big enclosure, where they start hunting deer. Once they have completed hunting 100-15 deer and reached the age of more than two years, they are released into the wild with a radio collar to monitor their movement.
Once they establish their territory, their radio collar is removed, and they live the life of a true wild tiger. During the whole process, the human imprint is almost nil except at the time of rescue and when they were very young cubs. Basically, the Ghorella enclosure is a kind of training center for tigers where the teaching is how to behave like a tiger in the wild.
A few years back, a tiger was rescued from human habitation and was sent to the Ghorella enclosure because of his habit of entering into the villages, but it was difficult because he was a fully grown tiger, and changing his habit was not possible, so even after spending time in the enclosure, he was sent to a rescue center where he has to spend the rest of his life.
Pattewala: A new story begins with conservation and rehabilitation
From here our story of the rescued cub started again. The rescued cub was kept in the Ghorella rehabilitation enclosure, first in a quarantine cage and later in a carnivore-proof enclosure. When he became 14-15 months old, he was shifted to the larger enclosure, where he started hunting the deer successfully.
After attaining the age of two years and having a successful hunting experience, it was fitted with a radio collar and released into the wild. This is how he got his name: “Pattewala,” which means a tiger with a radio collar.
A tiger in the wild does not have an easy task, because you are the strongest in the jungle; nature always gives you challenges. These challenges come from the other territorial tigers, humans, co-predators, and even from prey. Every second in the life of a tiger is a challenge.
Like other tigers, Pattewala also started searching for a suitable territory with the availability of two to three females. To survive in the wild, you have to be smart, and Pattewala is a really smart tiger. Most of the time, he avoided any conflict with resident tigers and tried to find a vacant space where he could settle, but being a male tiger in a tiger-rich area, you have to fight at least one male tiger, and it happened with him also. This fight was with Balaghat male, who was an older tiger compared to Pattewala.
Though the real fight nobody had seen, a dead body of a Balagaht male with fight marks was found in the jungle, and the presence of Pattewala nearby is an indication of a fight between the two giants.
He established his territory in the Mukki zone and found mates with three females and also fathered a few cubs. Now Pattewala is a dominant male of Mukki zone in Kanha tiger reserve, a major attraction for tourists and a strong gene provider for the future tigers of the landscape.
Pattewala’s success in the wild shows that tigers and other wild animals can survive in the wild even if orphaned, and the role of Ghorella enclosure in the conservation and rehabilitation of wild tigers
Also read – Top 5 Best Tiger Safari Tour Operators in India & Top 10 Most Legendary Tigers of India
Mr. Vibhav Srivastava is a trained wildlife expert and ecotourism specialist. He has more than 20 years of experience in wildlife research, forest management, conservation education, and sustainable tourism in India.
He works at Tiger Safari India, where he plans exciting wildlife tours, helps spread conservation messages, and creates simple educational programs.
He has worked in all major wildlife areas across Central, Northern, Eastern, and Southern India. His key work includes tiger monitoring across the country with the Wildlife Institute of India, community conservation projects, and training forest staff and nature guides.
He has worked with many groups like RARE India, New Delhi Zoo, Le Passage to India, and Tiger Protection Group. He also served as Chief Naturalist at Kanha National Park.
He is a good teacher and speaker. He has given more than 30 talks at top universities like Delhi University, BHU, Amity University, and IITTM on wildlife protection, ecotourism, and sustainability.
He has written books and scientific papers, and has spoken at national conferences. His focus is always on connecting real science with local communities and responsible tourism.
He has a Master’s degree in Botany and special training from the Wildlife Institute of India. He was also chosen as one of the top five naturalists in India for the TOFT Best Naturalist Award.
