Man vs wild, the conflict continues

As human casualties due to jumbo attacks rise, officials say animals venturing into new areas where people are not accustomed to living with them and are unaware of safety issues

Human casualties due to elephant attacks have been on the rise in Karnataka. Over the last five years, 151 people have died of elephant attacks in the state.

According to Data provided by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Karnataka Forest Department (KFD), these casualties have been going on. While 30 casualties were reported in 2019-20, it decreased to 26 in 2020-21. However, 27 casualties were recorded in 2021-22, 29 in 2022-23 and 39 in 2023-24.

KFD officials concede that the number of casualties has gone up over the last couple of years. They said negligence on the part of villagers too is part of the reason.

“We are noticing a surge in no just human-elephant conflict situations, but in the case of other wild animals too. This is mostly because elephants have been venturing into new landscapes and people in these areas are not accustomed to living with them. When we analyse the casualties, most of them are due to negligence. For instance, we have been alerting villagers regarding elephants’ movements in new landscapes in Chikkamagluru and Hassan. But, they are not aware of safety and precautionary measures. Despite being alerted, people move around and also allow elderly family members to venture out in the evening and morning hours, leading to casualties,” said Kumar Pushkar, APCCF (wildlife), KFD.

The department says it is taking measures to bring down the casualties due to elephant attacks. Some of the measures include strengthening of Elephant Task Forces’ alter system, awareness programmes in villages near forests, and setting up rail barricades. “We are making the ETF application robust by adding contact numbers of Gram Panchayat members. These numbers are used to send bulk SMSes in case KFD staff tracks an elephant or a herd. We also have control rooms in all districts that have high elephant movement and numbers are being publicised locally. ETFs have been directed to not aggravate the animals and drive them back into forests in a peaceful manner. People must take precautions,” added Pushkar.

Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre announced in August last year that the department has requested the Chief Minister for a grant of Rs 500 crore to prevent wildlife-human conflict. He had said that the fund is needed for the construction of about 640 km of rail barricades.

Karnataka fares better

The data by the Ministry shows that though the number of casualties is on the rise, Karnataka fares better than other states in the country.

Between 2019-2020 and 2022-23, while Karnataka had 112 human casualties due to elephant attacks, this number was much lower compared with some other states. In the given period, Assam experienced 309 casualties, Chhattisgarh had 252 casualties, Jharkhand had 387 casualties, Odisha had 470, Tamil Nadu experienced 195, and West Bengal had 337 human casualties.

“KFD is more experienced in handling man-animal conflicts compared with other states’ departments. The chemical restraint technique is being used effectively only in Karnataka. The rail barricade system is continuing and the state government has provided good support to carry out the work. Solar fencing, EPTs, anti-poaching camps, and ETFs are some other aspects that have helped us,” said a KFD official.

Despite being alerted, people move around and also allow elderly family members to venture out in the evening and morning, leading to casualties ­–Kumar Pushkar, KFD

Jumbo entry in Kodagu residential locality triggers panic
A wild elephant entered Kodagu district of Karnataka on Saturday morning triggering panic among local residents.
A video of the baby tusker entering Ponnampet locality captured by locals has been shared on social media platforms.
The elephant, which made its way through the Kunda road, the forest college paddy field APCMS garden and the main road was also seen going back the same way that it had entered.
Elephants are usually found in the coffee plantations of the nearby forest
The Forest Department promptly dispatched personnel and safely guided the elephant back to its natural habitat.
Meanwhile, neighbouring Kerala there were several incidents where elephants have ventured into residential areas. On February 17, a 50-year-old employee of the Kuruva Dweep eco-tourism centre of the Forest department in Pupally in Wayanad was killed in attack by wild elephants.
Previously on February 10 a wild elephant walked into the premises of a house and killed a 45 year old man in Mananthavady in Wayanad district.

Leaders of various political parties started a twelve-hour protest in Wayanad on February 17 morning following the death of a 50-year-old man who was attacked by wild elephants. -ANI