Amidst celebration of World Elephant Day, Kerala's mountain villages battle fear of jumbo attacks

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amidst the heartbreaking and disturbing stories of the Wayanad landslide tragedy, an incident in which a herd of jumbos came to the rescue of a woman and her family touched the hearts of animal lovers recently.

Sujatha and her family reportedly encountered a wild tusker and two female elephants when they climbed a hilltop to rescue themselves from the gushing flood waters and huge boulders.

The animals are said to have come very close to the family but stood beside them silently after the frightened woman requested the animals in tears not to harm them anymore, as they just survived a deadly landslide and were waiting to be rescued.

Sujatha later told the media that tears had rolled down the tusker's eyes, giving the impression that it had understood their plight.

But it was in the same Wayanad that a hapless man was mercilessly trampled to death by a wild elephant in the courtyard of a house months ago.

As World Elephant Day is observed on Monday with various programmes and festivities across the country, the hamlets in the mountains of Kerala remain under constant fear of wild elephants straying into human habitats.

In recent months, nail-biting incidents of human encounters with wild tuskers, the resulting casualties and the widespread destruction of agricultural crops have been reported not only in the forest-fringe hamlets of Wayanad but also in the hill station Munnar in Idukki district and in the remote villages of Palakkad district of the state.

According to the Forest Department's figures, as many as 17 people have lost their lives in elephant attacks in Kerala during 2023-2024.

Early this year, Ajeesh, a 42-year-old man, was trampled to death by a radio-collared elephant in the Mananthavady area of Wayanad.

In CCTV visuals that surfaced later, a huge jumbo, named Belur Magna by forest officials, destroyed a compound wall to chase the hapless man and finally trampled him to death in the courtyard of a house.

Despite an extensive search to capture the rogue elephant, the animal continued to remain elusive, forcing the authorities to cancel the mission later.

The frequent straying of Arikomban, a rice-loving elephant that used to attack shops in the tourist hill station of Munnar, also triggered a huge debate in the state in recent times.

The translocation of the jumbo -- first to the Periyar Tiger Reserve and then to Kalakkad-Mundanthurai Reserve -- invited protests from elephant lovers.

Another wild elephant, PT 7 (Palakkad 7), which used to wreak havoc in a few villages in Palakkad district, also gave tough times to the local people and forest officials.

The rogue elephant, which was renamed Dhoni later, was tranquilised and captured with the aid of kumkis (trained captive elephants) by forest personnel in an hours-long mission.

Several people, including a news channel cameraman, have lost their lives in the elephant attacks in the state in recent times.

A V Mukesh (34), working with Mathrubhumi News, was seriously injured in an elephant attack when he and a reporter were capturing visuals of the movement of a stray elephant herd in Malampuzha in Palakkad district last May.

Leading wildlife expert Dr P S Easa said that encounters between humans and elephants have been reported in the forest-fringe areas of the state since the 1800s. But there seems to be an escalation in recent times.

Many factors, including developmental activities within sanctuaries and national parks or even outside them, are contributing to human-wildlife conflict, he said.

There can't be a 'no-conflict' situation; only tough action by authorities would reduce the number of such encounters, he explained.

"The government has to take strong decisions. They should take hard decisions if they are interested in reducing the conflicts. This issue cannot be solved through popular action," Easa told PTI.

Taking the example of increased incidents of wild elephants straying into human habitats in Chinnakkanal in Idukki, he said if the issue is to be resolved, the connectivity of the Munnar-Chinnakkanal traditional elephant path should be re-established.

"Elephants are trapped there with no chance of movement to a larger area. That is the main issue there," he explained.

If such reasons are considered and specific solutions are implemented, it may not be palatable to everyone, the expert pointed out.

The Kerala government had told the state assembly that there has been an increase in the wild animal population in the mountain ranges of the state, and it is one of the reasons for the human-animal conflict in those places.

The government said that it has adopted various measures to prevent human-animal conflict in the areas of the state adjacent to forests, especially in Wayanad district, which has seen an increase in instances of wild animals entering inhabited areas.

As the state grapples with these tragic events, the issue of human-wildlife conflict had also become a major talking point in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

As per current estimates, Kerala has an elephant population of approximately 2,000 to 2,500.