Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Published
By Shikhar Agrawal
The Amazon thriller series Poacher revolves around a rigorous investigation conducted by the officers of
the Kerala Forest Department in order to take down the criminals running an illegal ivory smuggling
racket. These traffickers had been paying local hunters to kill elephants in the darkest corners of the
forest for their tusks, which were later sent to the local carving artists, who turned these raw materials
into finished sculptures. The finished artifacts were then exported to art dealers and brokers across the
country who deal with national and international clients. It was a complex network that left behind a
horrific amount of carcasses in the jungle, and the authorities had to do something about it before
human greed consumed the entire ecosystem. In Richie Mehta’s series, we come across three salient
officers: range officer Mala Jogi, software engineer Alan Joseph, and field director Neel Banerjee, who
became the face of the investigation. These three prominent characters are based on real-life people
who took part in Operation Shikar and arrested the people responsible for the crimes and cruelty against
wildlife.
Spoiler Alert
As for the real-life events, a local forest watcher named Kunjumon Devasey (named Aruku in the show)
arrived at the police station with a confession that shook the entire state. Devasey had been helping the
local poachers for almost two years. He would provide them with routes and other information so that
the poachers could target the wildlife in the most secluded parts of the forest which the rangers would
never visit or didn’t bother to check. The local watchers, on the other hand, would assure them that
everything was well, which the rangers would mention in the reports without double examination.
When Devasey’s confession came to light, Manu Sathyan was working as a range officer in the Kerala
Forest Department, just like his fictional counterpart. Manu was awaiting a promotion, and the case
became a turning point in his life. With the support of his seniors, he didn’t leave a stone unturned to
catch the culprits involved in a multi-gang ivory smuggling racket. The success of the operation became a
milestone in Manu’s life. After the events of 2015, he was promoted to the post of DFO in the same
department. Dealing with real-life criminals and poachers gave him the confidence to continue the good
work. He became a prestigious member of the WTI and collaborated with them on several cases related
to animal cruelty. Manu has been working as a forest officer for some 20 years now and has made it his
life’s mission to protect wildlife at all costs.
In real life, Jose Louies is a wildlife enthusiast with a keen interest in snakes and bees. As mentioned in
the Poacher series, a real-life Jose does run a popular website and often advises doctors or patients about
the correct anti-venom medications. The hospital incident that took place in the series is true, as Jose
could recognize the snake at first glance and could recommend appropriate anti-venom so that the
victim’s life could be saved in time. As of now, Louies serves as the Joint Director and Chief of Wildlife
Crime Control under the wing of a non-profit organization, WTI, Delhi. He also visits several faculties in
India as a guest lecturer in order to create awareness among the youth about wildlife protection
programs. He also has a son and a wife with whom he lives a peaceful life while spending much of his
time developing software that has been adopted by various national and international agencies to
increase the protection of wildlife and stop crimes against them.
After the Malayattoor poacher case, Dr. Mallick continued his efforts towards wildlife preservation and
received various awards for the same. As of now, he works as an IGF, the second-in-command of the
National Tiger Conservation Authority. Through his role in the institution, Dr. Mallick has been trying to
preserve the tiger population in the country and develop appropriate measures to achieve the goal.
Final Words
Other than the real-life heroes, the criminals portrayed in Richie Mehta’s series do bear a resemblance to
reality. The characters of Poonam Verma and Ravi Don, along with Morris Finn, are all based on real-life
people who ran the ivory smuggling racket in Kerala back in 2015. It is true that the forest rangers failed
to keep a watch on all parts of the forest all the time, but with the help of people like Jose Louies and
Manu Sathyan, the government was able to develop various software and equipment through which they
could track even the minutest movement in the forest and quickly take action against the poachers. I
hope these technologies will undergo further development in the future, thereby minimizing crime and
cruelty against animals in all parts of the country.