Ethnoveterinary knowledge and the politics of expertise in Nepali captive elephant management

Principal Investigator: Piers Locke

The management of Chitwan National Park in the lowland Tarai of Nepal relies upon the use of captive elephants for anti-poaching initiatives, conservation monitoring and research, as well as nature tourism. These modern endeavours depend upon the traditional institution of the sarkari hattisar or government elephant stable, historically staffed by the Tharu, an ethnic group indigenous to the Tarai who are renowned for their expertise in animal capture and forest knowledge. The handlers or hattisare develop intimate relations with their elephant companions with whom they live, thereby becoming familiar with their particular medical histories and behavioural temperaments. They are also the heirs to a highly developed tradition of expert knowledge concerning the care of elephants and management of their health. As a low-status profession appropriate to groups previously ascribed a low rank within Nepal's traditional, state-imposed hierarchical scheme of castes and ethnic groups, the handlers' expert knowledge on elephant care remains neither particularly well understood nor adequately acknowledged by the high status vets, trained in western medical practice, who are separated by barriers of social and cultural distance from the handlers with whom they must co-operate. This project then, building on Piers Locke's doctoral research on the relationships between history, practice and identity in Nepali captive elephant management, will investigate the handlers' indigenous elephant care knowledge, and the politics of its relationship to modern veterinary practice and park policies for utilising the resources of the elephant stable.