Nilgai at the IGI airport in Delhi

But to start off, it was a hot day. Not 9:00 AM yet and temperature soared close to 35 degrees. There were 16 people from Wildlife Trust of India waiting for few labourers and extra hands to arrive before we started off with what we had come to do in the small acacia patch near the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. From here, one could see the runway from where international flights take off with a loud booming noise every five minutes. It is certainly a very sensitive area to be in, especially for a herd of nilgai that have made this acacia patch their home.

WTI took up a project to relocate nilgai to a safer location away from the noise, human and machines in 2014 so that they would not be at risk of being killed due to various reasons. Being very near to airport, there is every risk of their straying in to human habitat and being run over by vehicles. Moreover, nilgai near the runway isn’t really a cute Disney scene out of Bambi. They could cause accidents. So in 2014, the first batch of capture was done and WTI was able to successfully relocate five nilgai to Asola Wildlife Sanctuary near Faridabad.
Nilgai capture is a technical process wherein some part of the habitat is enclosed with curtains while the team tries to comb the remaining area and drive the herd towards the enclosed area. Once inside, the nilgais are further driven into a funnel that leads to a container placed on a truck. Thereafter, the animals are taken to a safer habitat and released.

The area to be combed required large number of people, so one day a mail floated in the office, asking for volunteers to help with the capture in this blistering heat. Sun or no sun, I was certainly going. There is a certain joy in working out in the field, see nature’s work first hand. Office work is good. However, out with nature in sunshine, rain or storm, it is bliss. So, the next morning, armed with steel plates I was out. The idea was to create a human and sound barrier (thus the plates) so that the nilgai would move towards the enclosed area.

Nilgai being released in Asola Wildlife Sanctuary

However, the first drive wasn’t successful. The sun was blistering hot, braising and the acacia pricked — I certainly didn’t anticipate the number of thorns that pricked me. And I didn’t even get to see the nilgai. My colleague saw a wild pig though, and we managed to scare few peacocks. Oh wait! It was the other way round. (Try braving rustling bushes that makes sound like ‘phrrr! phrrr!’ and you don’t know what’s behind the bush!)

It was close to 1:00 and we were all tired and I hadn’t seen a single nilgai. The temperature soared to 41 degrees. With the sun at its peak, we drank water like there is no tomorrow. Finally, the team, headed by Sandeep Juyal, decided on a new strategy of cornering the herd and then restarting the drive. We started, more determined because all of us wanted it to succeed. Despite the sweat, exhaustion, scratches and burns, we were all in good spirits. More heat braised us, and we covered even more thorny bushes, high and low terrain and more of those thorns. If anyone remembers Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent creates a forest of thorns around the castle where the princess lay asleep. I want you to imagine the gallant prince walking through the thorny forest cutting his way through. I know we weren’t the 20 year old prince out to rescue sleeping beauty, but I certainly lived a fantasy; I would understand if some don’t agree!

This drive was a success. News passed on from one end to the other that six nilgai were inside the first enclosure. Tired yet happy at the success, we sat down to rest and eat and share experiences each more varied than the other. Someone tripped, some saw nilgai, I had thorns on my shoes and clothes that kept pricking.

The team at the release site

Meanwhile, Mother Nature had other ideas. As we got ready for the second drive towards the trucks, there was an unexpected dust storm which threatened to blow off the entire enclosure. Curtains tore away from the pole they were tied to, some of the irons poles were flying in the air like cotton seeds. As some of us and the labourers tried to hold on to the poles and the curtains, the rest quickly got busy with the drive as the speed of the wind got more intense.

I stood near one of the curtains, when I saw a herd of five nilgai sprint past us. And, if I were to be a bit dramatic, even though it was for a moment, the moment passed by very slowly. Nilgai are statuesque creatures. They sprint in a rhythm which is a beauty to watch. And getting to see them up close is an experience in itself and watching them in the midst of dust and dry leaves blowing and flying, I now realise the joy of a person working on ground who gets to see them so close all in their beauty and grace. And the moment just pauses and then passes.

The storm never subsided and at the end of the drive, we were able to capture three nilgai ready to be relocated. I decided I wanted to see the release too. So as some got ready to leave for home, the project team was driving down to supervise the release; in my case just to observe three nervous nilgai in the truck get released to a bigger, safer habitat. By the time we reached Asola Wildlife Sanctuary, the wind had grown very forceful and there were some droplets falling from the sky. Temperature dropped and among the trees it was as cheery as could be.

Nilgai being released in Asola Wildlife Sanctuary

Team members were putting up cameras, this time to capture nilgais on film; some were ready to mark the nilgai for post capture monitoring — long handle brush dipped in dark paint and a lot of waiting near the door so that the nilgai jump and they brush past the paint brush. The wind sped up, blew away hats and caps and the time to open the doors grew nearer. I felt the only thing missing was the orchestra playing the climax music. The door opened and we braced to see them jump out. But, no signs of nilgai. The nilgai didn’t want to go in at first now they didn’t want to come out! We started hitting the sides of the truck so that they would see the light outside and move. And just like that, all of a sudden, one jumped out and ran away disappearing among the bushes and the trees. The two remaining followed her and ran off to chew some fresh, moist grass.

And we cheered. I had a mixed feeling watching the nilgai go. Happy to have been able to contribute even if in a small way to the project, but the release also meant the end of a great day. In the end, there were a bunch of jovial humans ready to head back to the city. As we walked back to our vehicles, the wind had subsided and the rain we anticipated never fell. In the city, I heard the next day, there was chaos with traffic jams and stalled metro, crowded platforms due to surge of stranded commuters, but there in the Sanctuary, chaos can’t touch you. The grim and the sweat to windy and cool to three happy nilgai sprinting out of the truck, to a drive back home with the windows rolled down.

Nature, I simply love you and until the next email in the office for a day out in the sun, dear nilgai, Bon Voyage!

Written by Pow Aim Hailowng, Assistant Project Officer (Litigation), WTI