In Coorg, where men once loved hunting, K M Chinnappa broke the tradition by turning his gun to protect the forests. Anita Pratap captures the spirit of the man, and Mahesh Bhat his image

By Anita Pratap and Mahesh Bhat

Hunting was a way of life in the verdant forests and foothills of the Western Ghats in Karnataka’s Coorg area. It was an integral part of tradition, folklore, manhood, sport, food and commerce.

From poor, forest-dwelling tribesmen to the flamboyant royalty and courtiers in bustling Mysore, everyone loved hunting. But one man stood tall to end this way of life. His name is K.M.Chinnappa.

K M Chinnappa was the Range Forest Officer of Nagarahole for over two decades and was single-handedly responsible for making it one of the finest national Parks of India

Born in 1941 in Kumtur village near Nagarhole to a soldier who fought in the First World War, Chinnappa spent his youth roaming the forests of his ancestral land, listening to birds, watching the cavalcade of animals in their habitat, absorbing the every day miracles of the rich eco-system.

An enduring love for nature was thus born in him. Like his father, he too would become a mustachioed soldier. But with a difference. He would become a gun-toting, frontline warrior of the forests, dedicated to protecting wild life. Says he simply: “Wildlife is the purpose of my life.’

In 1967, he joined the Nagarhole National Park as a forester. The park was in ruins. Hunting had taken its toll. There were hardly any deer left, forget tigers and other big game. To cultivate rice, villagers had encroached on the swamps – the beloved play-ground of the elephants.

Tribesmen lived in clusters deep within the park to collect forest produce, ranging from honey to berries. Livestock herders grazed their cattle on the park’s grasslands. Hunters preyed on animals and birds.
Poachers hunted tigers for their skin; elephants for their tusks. Timber logging was a thriving mafia business. Sandalwood smugglers roamed with abandon.

The destroyers of Nagarhole’s environment used a range of weapons – hunters shotguns, tribesmen used snares and livestock herders used poison. Wild life protection laws were weak and the Forest Department concentrated on logging, misguidedly uprooting the diversity of natural vegetation to replace them with the monocultures of teak.

Rued Chinnappa: “If this devastation continued, I was dead certain that there would be no wild life left in Nagarhole in 30 years.”

He became a one-man army to reverse this process. And he succeeded. In less than a quarter of a century, Nagarhole revived, expanding from a 250 sq km part to 640 sq kms.

The poachers have retreated, the encroachers have gone and the hunters are virtually extinct, restoring Nagarhole to its rightful inhabitants – tigers, panthers, leopards, sloth bears, jackals, wild boars, porcupines, hares, langur and varieties of deer.

In the bad old days, tigers had to roam 200 sq kms before they could find prey. Now they can find it within 12 sq kms. The elephants are back where they belong: in the lush swamps and bamboo groves. The trick? Explains Chinnappa: “All you have to do is to stop human interference. Just leave the forests alone and they will regenerate themselves”.

Chinnappa was the right man at the right time. In 1972, in the wake of a groundswell of opinion generated by several leading Indian conservationists, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi took a slew of measures to protect the environment.

Several laws were enacted and sanctuaries in Kanha, Corbett, Ranthambore, Bandipur and Nagarhole among others were pulled back from the brink of destruction.

Forest departments had new direction, muscle and teeth. Still, keeping the humans out of the forests was not easy. Chinnappa paid a high personal price to fulfil his mission to safeguard Nagarhole. He was arrested, jailed, transferred. His home was burned down. But he has no regrets. Says he with his characteristic robust optimism: “What’s the use of just going to office. I led a colourful life.”

To protect wild life, Chinnappa had to take on a range of human beings who lived on the wild side of life. He captured a large number of poachers and smugglers and filed court cases against them. But they were all acquitted in no time and were back to their wicked ways.

He realized he would have to terrorize them, make it really dangerous for them to hunt and poach. He took up the gun and did not hesitate to shoot. He recalls: “No body used high-calibre guns. I had only a 12 bore rifle. And I used only buckshot. But at that time, it was enough.”

He remembers the legend of a tribesman whom the locals nicknamed “parari Thimma” – vanishing Thimma. He was a notorious poacher who nimbly eluded forest guards. Chinnappa began tracking him and one day shot at him. And then he vanished forever!

Chinnappa became the local legend. Supporters hailed him as a hero, the phantom of the jungles. Poachers called him “The Devil” who stalked their hunting grounds.

Chinnappa used his immense knowledge of forest trails, tracking spoor, jungle craft, fabled night vision and stealth maneuvers to ambush the poachers and hunters. Guided by moonlight, he silently crept upon the forest brigands and opened fire. And the old way of life began to end.

But not without resistance. In no time, the threatened “vested interests” – profiteering poachers, unscrupulous smugglers, wealthy hunters, criminals, mafia operators and politicians all ganged up against Chinnappa.

In 1993 after voluntarily retiring from Karnataka Forest department, Chinnappa started Nagarahole Wildlife Conservation Education project reaching out to the local students, youth and the public.