Well-known conservationist Anil Kumar Malhotra, owner of India’s first private wildlife sanctuary, passed away on Monday following a cardiac arrest. The 80-year-old was rushed to Lopamudre Hospital in Kodagu, Karnataka, after he complained of chest pain. He breathed his last the same day. He leaves behind his wife Pamela Gale Malhotra.
Anil, who hailed from Pune, came to Kodagu from the Himalayas in 1991, along with his wife Pamela and set up the sanctuary. The couple bought 55 acres of abandoned farmlands and turned it into a bio-diverse rainforest and set up SAI (Save Animals Initiative) Sanctuary Trust, a non-profit trust in 2002.
Today, the private sanctuary spread across 300 acres in Theralu Village near the Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary, is home to 24 species of mammals, including elephants, tigers, leopards, dhole (Indian wild dog), various types of deer, the giant Malabar squirrel, the Nilgiri marten and river otters. There are 105 species of birds, 50 species of snakes—including king cobras, vipers and kraits—102 species of butterflies, and 46 varieties of native trees.
The conservationist couple met in New Jersey, USA. Anil, who grew up in the foothills of the Himalayas, studied in Doon School, Dehradun, and attended Shivaji Military School, Pune, before graduating from St Xavier’s College, Bombay, Government Law College and London Institute of Bankers. He went to the US to meet his family after securing a PhD in politics from the University of Hamburg, Germany.
Anil, who owned an Indian restaurant met Pamela, who was a working partner in a cafe. Anil married Pamela—who holds a double major in politics from University of Colorado—and settled down in Hawaii as the couple fell in love with the place on their honeymoon.
In 1986, when Anil’s father died, the couple went to Haridwar. Appalled at the pollution and deforestation in the region, they resolved to reclaim the forests. They bought 40 acres in Uttarkashi and founded an NGO, Himalaya Seva Dal, to protect forest and wildlife and to empower local women and children.
In 1991, the couple bought 300 acres of denuded coffee and cardamom plantations in southern Kodagu, in Karnataka, and turned it into a wildlife sanctuary, which uses green energy systems (solar panels and windmills) and has eco-friendly buildings.
When THE WEEK met the couple in 2016, Anil and Pam had expressed their concern over the fast depletion of freshwater due to deforestation. Rich corporates and individuals can do their bit to prevent an impending freshwater crisis by simply buying land and allowing it to grow into a natural forest, said Anil.
Kodagu is in the heart of the Western Ghats, the main source of fresh water for all of south India. But deforestation has reduced the forest cover and is leading to drying up of rivers and streams originating from the ghat (forests), Anil had lamented.
“In the lap of mother nature, you realise the earth is only a microdot in the universe,” Anil, had said, marvelling at life.
