WAYANAD HUMAN-ANIMAL CONFLICT
1. Context
In the latest in a series of wild elephant attacks in Kerala, Subair Kutty, a daily worker, was attacked by a rouge elephant at Sulthan Bathery town adjacent to the Wayanad wildlife
Sanctuary in the early hours of January 6 2023.
2. Key Points
- The same elephant further charged at a bus and destroyed crops grown by three farmers on the same day.
- Meanwhile, a herd of elephants raided a field of 500 plantains belonging to two farmers at
- Kallur, some 10 kms away from Sulthan Bathery.
- After a three-day search, the elephant, codenamed Pandalur Makhna-2 or PM2, was caught and has since been relocated to the elephant kraal at Muthanga in Wayanad.
3. The rampant of human-animal conlict
- A few weeks ago, sightings of a five-year-old tigress at Vakery, some eight kms from Bathery, in the south Wayanad forest division, had caused panic among the residents in the area.
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Forest officials tried to locate the beast, which was found dead in a plantation three days later. While the capture of PM2 provided a huge relief to the people of the area, they were nonetheless disgruntled over the perceived lack of apathy on the part of the government in effectively implementing plans to mitigate human-animal conflict. It has become a serious wildlife management problem in Kerala in the last few years,
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- People living on the fringes of reserve forests and sanctuaries have a heightened sense of insecurity now. But the causes of this are many.
- They attributed many reasons to it including an increase in human population in such areas, habitat loss and fragmentation suffered by wild animals and change in cropping patterns adopted by farmers.
4. Reasons for conflict
- Wild elephants turning restive has been reported from several areas recently, most pertinently from Munnar in Idukki, Vazhachal in Thrissur and in Wayanad itself.
- Crop raid by elephants, cattle-lifting by leopards and tigers and attacks on humans have also been widely reported.
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An analysis of the threats to biodiversity conservation and management of natural resources in various forest divisions of Kerala shows that human-wildlife conflict is a threat existing almost everywhere, but more frequently in the northern region and particularly in Wayanad.
The issue has always been there, but its frequency has gone up lately.
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- An increase in the intrusion of people into wildlife habitats and the change in land use patterns by cultivators have exacerbated the trouble.
- Furthermore, these cultivators, who are often development-oriented and believe that the prime job of the forest department is to protect their interests, are less tolerant of crop raids by wild animals.
5. Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary
- It is Located in Kerala, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) is an integral part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
- Spread over 344.44 sq km, WWS is contiguous to the tiger reserves of Nagerhole and Bandipur of Karnataka and Mudumalai of Tamil Nadu.
- Kabini river (a tributary of Cauvery river) flows through the sanctuary.
- It was declared a Sanctuary in the year 1973.
5.1. Biodiversity
The forest types include South Indian Moist Deciduous forests, West coast semi-evergreen forests and plantations of teak, eucalyptus and Grewelia.
| Elephant, Gaur, Tiger, Panther, Sambar, Spotted deer, Barking deer, Wild boar, Sloth bear, Nilgiri langur, Bonnet macaque, Common langur, Wild dog, common otter, Malabar giant squirrel etc. are the major mammals. |
6. The way forward
- The only solution is mitigation of conflict. For this, both government and society should work together as a single entity and alter perspectives towards wildlife and human existence in the forest and on its fringes.
- Parallelly, forest conservation must be made more effective, through participatory programmes involving the people.
For Prelims & Mains
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For Prelims: Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, human-animal conlict, Kabini river,
For Mains:
1. What are the reasons for the series of wild elephant attacks in Kerala? Why have such conflicts increased? Discuss how can be done to prevent them? (250 words)
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Source: The Hindu
