SAI (Save Animals Initiative) Sanctuary is located in the Kodagu district in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. SAI Sanctuary is the only private sanctuary in India. It is spread over an area of 1.2 square km. It is managed by SAI Sanctuary Trust. SAI Sanctuary trust won the Wildlife and Tourism Initiative of the Year Award-2014 for Eco-Tourism that protects forests and wildlife.

History

left, Ms. Pamela Gale Malhotra receiving the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2017 Dr. Anil Kumar Malhotra and Pamela Malhotra who first went to the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

, were only allowed to buy 12 acres so they came south to start the SAI (Save Animals Initiative) Sanctuary Trust. They bought around 55 acres of unused and abandoned land from the

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

s who were not using it due to excess of rainfall in Kodagu district of

. They kept buying lands from farmers who were not using them. The land was used and farmers got money to repay their debts as their land was idle. Gradually the 55 acre forest cover became larger and today covers 300 acres of the land. There were a lot of native trees there. The couple decided to retain those and follow three rules: no chopping down trees, no human interference and no poachers. The wildlife sanctuary started in 1991. After 23 years, they had transformed the 55 acres of barren land they bought in 1991 into a 300-acre sanctuary with a river that is home to fish and snakes, including the King Cobra. The huge trees and thick forest helped several birds like the hornbill find their homes. There are over 300 species of birds that visit this sanctuary. Several cameras are installed across the sanctuary to identify new animals and keep a track on

poacher Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

s. When the Malhotra couple purchased the land, there were already native species of cardamom and other trees that were planted. They planted more native trees around these. As the tree cover expanded, the animal and bird species increased. The flora includes hundreds of varieties of indigenous trees. The couple grow 10-12 acres of

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

and around 15 acres of

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. They are r ...

. They are involved in

organic farming Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

. The sanctuary is off-grid and it runs completely on solar and alternate energy. It is a registered not-for-profit trust which runs on donations which get tax exemptions. As the area is very large it is hard to keep track of the poachers. To counter this, they spread awareness about preserving wildlife and nature in schools and nearby villages. The wildlife on their sanctuary includes

Bengal Tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna. The tiger is estimated to have been present in ...

Asian Elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...

Wild Boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

, Leopards, Sambhar and the giant Malabar squirrel. On International Women's Day in 2017, she was in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

where she was awarded the

Nari Shakti Puraskar The Nari Shakti Puraskar is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is the highest civilian hon ...

by President

Pranab Mukherjee Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the India ...

at the

Rashtrapati Bhavan The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, rāsh-truh-puh-ti bha-vun; ; originally Viceroy's House and later Government House) is the official residence of the President of India at the western end of Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, India. Rashtrapati Bh ...

References

{{Western Ghats Tourist attractions in Kodagu district Wildlife sanctuaries in Karnataka 1991 establishments in Karnataka Protected areas established in 1991