Where the wild things are

NEW DELHI: In the backdrop of World Wildlife Day observed last week, it was reported that India’s estimated leopard population rose from 12,852 in 2018 to 13,874 in 2022. However, the number of rosetted felines declined slightly in the Shivalik hills and the Indo-Gangetic Plains, the Union Environment Ministry said. The Status of Leopards in India report said Madhya Pradesh has the maximum number of leopards in the country at 3,907 (up from 3,421 in 2018). The number of felines grew from 1,690 in 2018 to 1,985 in 2022 in Maharashtra, from 1,783 to 1,879 in Karnataka, and from 868 to 1,070 in Tamil Nadu.

The population of tigers in Odisha also surged to 30 adults and eight cubs, per the latest report of the All Odisha Tiger Estimation (AOTE), 2023-2024 conducted by the Odisha Forest department. Odisha is part of the Central Indian and Eastern Ghats landscape and forest cover accounts for 33.50% of the state’s total geographic area. The state is home to one national park, one proposed national park and 19 wildlife sanctuaries.

But the good news of population surges among the wild cats is being overshadowed by recurring episodes of man-animal conflict that are being reported from across India. Last month, the Himachal Pradesh CM informed the state Assembly that brown bears, ibex and other wild animals are causing losses to farmers by damaging crops in Lahaul Spiti district. The Chief Minister said there is no provision in the Forest Department to compensate the farmers for their crop losses.

Closer home, in neighbouring Kerala, protests erupted in Kothamangalam over the surge in human-animal conflicts, as an elderly woman died in a fatal elephant attack in the Idukki district last week. The fatality was preceded by the deaths of as many as three people in Idukki and Wayanad, caused by run-ins with wild elephants. Ironically, recent data from the State Forest Department shows human fatalities resulting from such encounters have declined over the past three years. Per the study, the number of fatalities due to elephant attacks in Kerala during the period 2023-2024 had decreased compared to numbers recorded in 2021-2022.

In Kerala, 17 people lost their lives in elephant attacks during 2023-2024. This is a dip from the 27 deaths reported in 2022-2023 and 35 in 2021-2022. Compared to Odisha, Jharkhand and Karnataka, where episodes of human-animal conflict are more frequent, Kerala’s record seems subdued. According to Forest sources in Jharkhand, over 100 people are killed annually in elephant attacks on an average. The Karnataka Forest department reported 148 human fatalities due to human-elephant conflict in the last five years.

Additionally, Odisha, Assam, and West Bengal collectively lost 499, 385, and 358 people, respectively, in human-animal conflicts over the same five-year period, as stated by the Environment Ministry. Obviously, there is an elephant in the room that hasn’t been addressed. For starters, there is a requirement to assess the situation and chalk out strategies by recognising the fragility of the regions concerned. A statutory body is needed to coordinate the issues spread across specific geographic regions. Collaborative efforts should be made involving government agencies, conservation organisations, and local communities to enhance habitat protection and mitigate human-wildlife conflict in the days to come.