Why Is There Increasing Human-Animal Conflict In Kerala's Wayanad?
Kerala’s Wayanad has been witnessing an increased number of man-animal conflicts in recent years, with the forest region becoming more frustrated in a recent incident of a wild elephant chasing a 47-year-old man and trampling him to death. This worrying episode among the increasing incidents occurred in residential property. Chasing the man, the elephant broke the gate, entered inside the property and strappled the man to death.
With the incident along with its CCTV footage, the human-animal conflict in the region has come once again to the limelight of the public, who are not actually aware of the reality. Protests erupted in the area, with the locals blocking the forest officials” vehicles, arguing with them and asking them to take immediate steps to find a solution. In addition to elephants, the region is also vulnerable to tigers, bison, and wild boar attacks and tigers attacking calves and sometimes even man has become a normal thing. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the MP from the region has temporarily stopped his ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra to leave for Wayanad.
Several districts in the southern state are experiencing the man-animal conflict, with the northern forest state Wayanad being the worst affected. Wayanad has a forest region of 36.48 per cent, with a vulnerable geological location being the reason for increased human-animal conflict. According to government data for 2022-23, there have been at least 8,873 wild animal attacks in the state out of which 4193 were by elephants.
Over the past decade, the elephant attacks in the Wayanad alone have claimed more than 41 lives while the tiger attacks caused the death of seven. In addition to the human casualties, the damages that the wild animal causes to the crops and farming lands are also huge, causing extensive losses to farmers in the region.
The reason for the increased cases of wild animal attacks is attributed to the district’s forest which is part of the greater forest area connecting Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, Bandipur National Park, and BR Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, and Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Sathyamangalam Forest in Tamil Nadu. From inside these forests, tigers, elephants and other wild animals cross the borders and reach out to the habitant areas searching for food.
Another reason for the increased human-animal conflicts is the increased use of forest land for the cultivation of alien plants. The extraction of more water for farming, causes water shortage in the forest, leading to wild animals coming out of the jungle in search of water. The farm”s lands that are left without attention and have the remains of fruits such as bananas and pineapples are also enticing the animals to raid the place. Leaving the farming areas for stay for safety concerns has further emboldened animals to reach more to the habitant areas, worsening the conflict.
Though the state has taken measures such as buying farmers” land with enough compensation, converting it into forest and deploying rapid response teams in the potentially dangerous zones, the human-animal conflict is only worsening, claiming the lives of the sole breadwinners of the villagers.
