I'm in Kathmandu for a while preparing a Memorandum of Understanding and getting structures ready for the next stage of the rewilding program. Going through images for the MoU is bringing back memories. This one is from about a year ago shortly after a sleepless night when Asa went on a destructive rampage. We had been sharing the same night enclosure for a short period while he settled into life in the jungle at 2500m. We had separate compartments but Asa destroyed mine and most of the gear in it... so I moved out. The rest is history, the strategies worked, Asa is now living wild and free.
The tactics with the two cubs Tika and Ram are different because they have each other for company. Handlers Asis Grg and Tika Ram will go into separate enclosures from the outset at the next isolated base. They and their gear will be protected from the cubs... my job will be that they are all a well fed happy family. Of course there is always the chance Asis and Tika Ram will go feral as well but hey, I'll just chuck them a bone every now and then. It's good being wild...
