Kerala declares man-animal conflict as state-specific disaster; govt to form multi-level panels to tackle instances

An official communication from the Chief Minister’s Office said the state disaster management authority will be roped in to mitigate the increasing instances of man-animal conflict.

The Kerala government will form a control room at the state Forest department headquarters on the lines of the control rooms formed during natural disasters.

The cabinet has decided to form a four-level monitoring system to address the menace of man-animal conflict.

A state-level committee headed by the Chief Minister and other ministers as its members will be formed as the first level.

In the second level, a committee headed by the chief secretary will be formed. It will have secretaries of various departments as its members. The committee under the chief secretary will also include the member secretary of the state Disaster Management authority. This committee will be responsible for issuing directions to be implemented at the state level.

At the district level, the district collectors, who are also the executive magistrates, will head the third level committees. These committees will have the divisional forest officers, the district medical officers and other district level officials of various departments as members. The committees will be responsible for all steps at the district level.

At the grassroots level, local vigilant committees will be given the task to prepare steps to reduce the conflict. Such committees will act as per the directives of the district committees headed by the district collectors. The grassroot committees will be headed by the presidents of the local civic bodies.

Declaration of the man-animal conflict as a state specific disaster will give more power to the district collectors to address the menace.

On Wednesday, an auto driver was killed in Malappuram district after his vehicle was hit by a wild boar.

On Tuesday, two people were killed in wildlife attacks — a 70-year-old farmer was killed by a wild gaur in his farm land in Kozhikode district and a 62-year-old tribal woman was trampled to death by a wild elephant in Thrissur.

The 70-year-old farmer was identified as Palatty Abraham, a native of Kakkayam, where the animal has been roaming over the last few weeks. He was engaged in farming when the animal attacked him from behind. He was brought dead to the Kozhikode Medical College and Hospital. In Kozhikode, agitated farmers and local people from Kakkayam demanded the wild gaur be shot dead. They said the postmortem of the victim would be allowed only after the government addresses their demands.

In the Thrissur incident, the 62-year-old woman, Valsa, was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Peringalkuthu when she had gone to collect forest produce. She had gone to the forest along with husband and the colony head Rajan when they came under attack by the wild elephant.

In January, two people were attacked by a wild gaur at Kakkayam, which has a hydel power generating station and an eco-tourism centre.

Protests, which have erupted in several parts of Kerala, have put the CPI(M) government in a crisis ahead of the Lok Sabha election. The decision to declare the conflict as a state-specific disaster is meant to ensure timely intervention of the government machinery, said government officials.

Give licence for stray dogs’ care: HC

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala HC said the state government should frame guidelines in consultation with the Centre to give licence to individual interested dog lovers to maintain stray dogs in tune with ABC Rules 2023.

The bench of Justice P V Kunhikrishnan on February 28 had made the observation, while disposing of a petition against a dog lover, Rajeev Krishnan, a native of Kannur, who is protecting stray and abandoned dogs, causing nuisance for neighbours. “Dog lovers can come forward to protect dogs, along with local government institutions, instead fighting for them in print and visual media,” the HC said. —ENS