Featured image courtesy: The Patriot

The interviews and reporting for this story were conducted in August 2024.

A couple of decades ago, in the heart of Uttarakhand’s Jim Corbett National Park, a youth could be seen hiding high up in one of the watch towers. Anyone passing by would wonder about the unusual spot he had picked.

But the answer lay in an amusing scene; every time the young boy attempted to make his way out of the tower, an elephant (camouflaged by the thicket of bushes) would appear and charge at him. And once again, the boy would ascend the watch tower and wait.

It took all of four hours before the elephant decided to make a move, and the youth finally descended the watch tower, relief colouring his face.

The boy in this story was a young Vivek Menon, who is now the co-founder of Wildlife Trust of India — an organisation dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild habitats. This tryst with the elephant left an indelible mark on Menon’s mind. “It made me understand the animal’s strength,” he smiles, quick to add, however, that his love for the wild and nature predates this incident.

There is no singular story that served as inspiration to become a conservationist, Menon insists. But coax him a little, and he says genetics did play its role — “I am from Kerala, the land of elephants” — as did childhood treks. “These were treks to the Himalayas during my school days,” Menon explains. “It would be right to say that I took to animals and birds the moment I was exposed to them.”

At home, Menon’s room resembled an animal shelter. Birds and small animals rescued from the wild and predatory hands found a safe space. “I thought I was doing them [the animals] good by bringing them home,” he justifies. Today, at 56, the conservationist’s work is an extension of that same goodwill.

How many hours I have spent watching young bulls playfully test their strength, their nascent ivories never inflicting harm, their trunks loosely entwined & ears aflap while muscle and sinew grind against the other. These young mock-battles train them for later adult life! pic.twitter.com/Em9soIlOnY

Such was his love for nature that when he digressed from the career plans his father had for him — a career in automobile engineering — and followed his heart all the way to the zoology laboratory, no one was shocked.

‘I wanted to do something concerning animals’

Question: Is there a better way to interview a conservationist than reaching him through a Zoom call while he is in the heart of a South African jungle?

Absolutely not; just what is needed to add essence to the story.

Menon’s excitement was palpable. As senior advisor to the ‘International Fund for Animal Welfare’ for years now, he was in the Southern African country assisting in an operation that involved........

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