On September 29, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at an event organised by the state forest department highlighted that it is pertinent to take steps to prevent human-wildlife conflicts. However, while the CM said that he would look into the Union Environment Ministry’s request to allocate funds to install barricades, the officials of the forest department and wildlife experts feel that the government should concentrate on removing encroachments from forest lands. Siddaramaiah had said that funds to complete the construction of barricades to prevent animals from coming out of forest areas will be ensured. “It is the responsibility of the forest department to provide fodder and drinking water to the wild animals. Afforestation should be carried out by planting more saplings. The expansion of forest areas will be of great benefit to the state. Though it is a matter of happiness to see an increase in the number of tigers and elephants in the forests, the wild animals are entering human habitats and this is posing a problem to the forest department as well as the people,” he said. Man-animal conflict and why encroachments need to be removed A forest department record shows over 45,071 land encroachment cases are still pending before various courts. On October 2 and 3, a farmer was mauled by a tiger near Hunsur, Nagarhole and an elephant died after getting electrocuted at a farm in Mysuru. According to the data shared by the Karnataka government, 148 lives have been lost in elephant attacks since 2018. In the wake of rising elephant attacks, the Karnataka government had constituted elephant task forces in Hassan, Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Ramanagara and Bannerghatta between 2022 and 2023. A total of 74 wild elephants have been captured and rehabilitated since 2000 in the Hassan district. A senior forest department official said, “The elephant population has exploded in Karnataka and there is no doubt about it. The state is home to as many as 6,395 elephants.” He added, “However, the issue is that the state has lost several elephant corridors due to rapid urbanisation and encroachments. The state government has now formed a task force to ensure accurate details reach the lawyers who argue on behalf of the government. The task force will also ensure removal of encroachments.” The official further said, “Since 2019, only in Hassan district, the government has paid a compensation of Rs 7 lakh for the loss of human lives and crop damage due to elephant attacks.” The Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Head of Forest Force, Rajiv Ranjan, earlier this year had directed the forest officials to submit a report on the alleged encroachment of an elephant corridor inside the Bannerghatta National Park. An NGO, Bannerghatta Nature Conservation Trust, had complained that human habitats have come up on the elephant corridor in the national park. What experts say Former Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer B K Singh said fragmentation of forests is the primary reason for the increasing number of human-wildlife conflicts. “Heavily used linear infrastructure, loss of corridors and habitats and fragmentation of forests are the main reasons for the increasing human wildlife conflicts. Human-elephant conflicts have reached an unprecedented scale. The fodder and forage in the forests are also declining due to livestock grazing and unsustainable harvest of non-timber forest products. Unless corridors and habitats are restored and forests are protected against grazing and fire, even more stringent barriers will not be able to contain wild animals within the reserves,” Singh said. Sumanth Bindumadhav, Director, Wildlife Department, Humane Society International/India, said, “In the recent past, we have seen very unfortunate human deaths, including two officials of the Karnataka Forest Department. The loss of human lives caused by conflict with any animal is tragic beyond words. In the same breath, we have also witnessed elephants being captured and taken into captivity or being killed in retaliation in parts of the state and this is equally disappointing.” “The way forward needs to be data driven, community centric and based on a much more thorough understanding of conflict dynamics. Our understanding of elephants thus far has largely been restricted to population estimates and some understanding of biology. There is a wealth of information to be uncovered with respect to human-elephant interactions that could form the basis of management in years to come,” Bindumadhav said. He added, “We need to dive deep into understanding how we could prevent loss of livelihoods and lives from conflict and for this, multiple stakeholders need to come together. Interventions like crop insurances need to be assessed for their viability and supported by policies that make it feasible for such schemes to be implemented at volume.”
