Bengal Fox, a diminishing fortune of the Salem landscape

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    In January 2025, as part of the Incubation Centre program visits, I happened to spend time at the Salem's Bengal Fox incubation centre. At the centre, the interactions I had with Dr Brawin Kumar, Biologist, Mr Alaguraj, technical assistant, and other researchers  regarding the incubation centre program and outreach activities was insightful. The main agenda of the Incubation Centre was to create awareness of the significance of Bengal fox amongst school and college students. As a result, I understood the centre was well-designed and highly focused on conservation education with miniatures and information boards about Bengal Fox Vulpes bengalensis (Shaw, 1800) and many more innovative facilities such as selfie booths, herbarium and various digital tools were incorporated. 



Figure: Habitat, Distribution and Ecology of Bengal fox


Conversations with the forest officials, helped me to understand the distribution records of Bengal foxes. In the past, their sightings were recorded from Kettavadi, Thamayanur, Kottavadi, Vazhaippadi, Illampillai, Serugapadi Block, Kattavadi, Thamayanur, and CN Palayam. However, in recent times, such sightings have become rare. Only during the breeding season, this species can be spotted in the remnant scrub jungle patches, open grassland and barren lands of Salem and neighbouring districts, apart from it, it is elusive. The officials highlighted the primary constraints involved in conserving the Bengal fox such as habitat loss, fragmentation, local hunting and unethical ritual practices. The local inhabitants of Salem seem to have an ritual practice (called “Vanagnari”) of capturing the Bengal fox and tying it to a tree while celebrating their Pongal festival, which happens in mid-January. This practice has affected the population of the species very badly and hence the forest department has been working hard involving many workforce to protect the species during the festival season from December to February, but some efforts have been deemed to fail too.


                                        
Figure: Ritual practice at Salem (Image courtesy - Tupaki Desk)


Multiple brainstorming discussions with Sociologists and other researchers at Salem, helped us to identify the historical events that connect the local inhabitants of Salem with these unethical rituals. Conversations with Thiru. Kovai Sadhasivam explains the mythical stories and beliefs behind the ritual. Historically, the inhabitants of Salem belong to the farming community and  have followed a practice of providing sacrifices for high yield during the harvesting season, especially in the month of Thai (mid January to mid February). A similar practice of capturing and sacrificing Bengal Fox was also found to be followed in parts of Karnataka, but the good part is, such practice was stopped around 20 years ago. Until today, some local inhabitants of Salem still follow such rituals that harms the Bengal fox population. Thiru. Kovai Sadhasivam also mentions that with and without capturing the animal, the yield has been good during the harvest season due to the soil and climatic conditions of Salem and not by following any unethical rituals.

 

He also extends the story behind this ritual back to the 16th century, when the Marathas Shivaji tried to expand his territory in the south; during the invasion, with his large troops, he had a nomadic warmen community named Bakiri boli, an Indo Aryan community. After the war ended, the warmen reached Tamil Nadu and lived near the barren lands, and were primarily hunter-gatherers. For their livelihood, the Bakiri boli community assisted the farmers by hunting vermin rats, peahen, and wild boar, which  helped to control pests in farmlands. Also, for their livelihood they hunted the predators to protect the cattle (cow and sheep) from threats. They also hunted the important predator, Bengal fox, for their teeth and horns (myth). 

 

Earlier, fox hunting happened at few places where local people say reasons such as the animal hunts the little kids of their community or they believed hunting can provide them fortune and prosperity. Whereas some communities believed that spotting Bengal fox early in the morning after being awake from the sleep will provide good fortune. But now, most communities have opted out of the hunting practices with better education and awareness.

 

In Tamil and Sangam literature, the Bengal fox is called kurinari or kanam nari. This species plays a significant role in the ecosystem as a key predator; they thrive in the Mullai region (Inthinai - agricultural zone), scrubland, grassland, thorn forest, and hardy conditions and can adapt to disturbed environments too. They feed on Ziziphus mauritiana (ilanthai), Ziziphus oenoplia (Surai ilanthai), Carrissa spinarum (kala kai), Carissa casandras (perukala), Cattunaragen spinosa (karai), Syzygium cumini (naval), and kaya fruits, were also mentioned in Tamil Sangam literature. Bengal fox is among the significant seed dispersal (vidhaiparaval) species that assist in the natural dispersal of these important edible fruiting trees in the forest. They  also feed on insects, small mammals, reptiles and ground-nesting birds. They are opportunistic feeders that help control the pests such as rats and peahens. The recent literature and sources say that the Bengal fox population has declined adversely as per IUCN status. 

 

A round of  conversations with Thiru, Venkatesan, a historian, gave us new historical perspectives about the animal. He shared that there are inscriptions of nadukal (kalvettu) in the ancient temples at Salem for Wild boar hunting with local people, Dog inscriptions, Cropland inscriptions, Deer inscriptions in Yercaud, Horse inscriptions and Snake inscription with local people. But there are no records of fox inscriptions found in the temples of Salem .  He also mentioned that the practice of hunting the fox for ritual practices might have started 300 years ago. It was around the 17th century, Cinnamanayakar ruled Belur, Vazhaipadi, and surrounding regions. He practised Vainavam, and hence after a victory over a neighbourhood region, he sacrificed a Bengal fox in the temple. The Bengal fox was sacrificed to provide good fortune and prosperity. He suggests that this could have been the starting point of the region's Bengal fox ritual practice. In the earlier period, there were no traces of such  hunting practices of Bengal foxes.

 

Fast forwarding to today, during the second day of Pongal festival , Kari naal (the day after Mattu Pongal), the local inhabitants join together as a community, worship their deity and rejoice to the sound of drums and other musical instruments while getting ready with a net to capture the Bengal fox and tie it to a tree for performing the unethical ritual practice. This seems to be celebrated in a grand manner in certain villages where they even term it as a Tamil tradition. But in reality, this is a considerably new practice. The point of doing this ritual is that it would provide fortune and wellness to the community. 

 

The fact that hurting a wild animal can cause prosperity to the community seems to be flawed and the most shocking part is even educated individuals are being part of this unethical practice. In Spite of multiple efforts taken by the forest department to curb the practice, still certain villages are hellbent on following it. If conservation initiatives with the local community don't work, it's high time that policy-level decisions are made, and research oriented management is incorporated.

 

Celebrating traditions requires understanding our responsibilities towards wildlife and the environment. We are interconnected with nature, and prioritizing the Bengal fox as a keystone predator and its habitat is crucial for a sustainable future.  It must be noted that the region has seen a significant rise in the population of Peahen and Rats due to the decline of the Bengal fox population, which invariably affects agriculture and  human wellbeing. Biodiversity and its inhabitants are interconnected  and this knowledge seems to be imparted well by the efforts of Bengal Fox Incubation Centre at Salem.  Their work towards creating awareness and conservation efforts to the educational institutions regarding this Schedule I species is crucial and commendable.

 

Review by: Krishnaveni Srinivasan, Independent Nature Educator, Chennai and Karthy S, PhD Scholar, Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan

Acknowledgement:  

Salem Forest Division, Tamil Nadu Forest Department

Thiru. Kovai Sadhasivam and Thiru, Venkatesan, Historian.

Dr. Brawin Kumar, Biologist, Salem; and Mr Alaguraj, technical assistant.

Reference:

Menon, V. (2023). Indian mammals: A field guide. Hachette India.

The New Indian Express. (2022, January 17). Fox ritual spells trouble for Salem farmers. The New Indian Express.https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2022/Jan/17/fox-ritual-spells-trouble-for-salem-farmers-2408071.html

Tupaki Desk (n.d.). Fox Jallikattu organised in Salem, forest officials watch. Tupaki. https://english.tupaki.com/highlights/article/fox-jallikattu-organised-in-salem-forest-officials-watch/48630




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