KOCHI: As the state witnesses rising human-animal conflicts, particularly due to the expansion of agricultural activities in the forest fringes and other factors, the forest department is preparing a ‘Human-Animal Conflict Mitigation Policy’ for the state. The state board for wildlife, headed by the chief minister, has entrusted the chief wildlife warden to prepare the policy report, which will be a set of guidelines and laws to mitigate the conflict.
“There is a practice on the part of vested interest parties in exaggerating the number of human deaths as part of conflicts with wild animals alone, despite the fact that most of the deaths in such cases are due to snake bites. Hence, our intention is to counter such propaganda by making the state snake bite death-free in the next five years. With snake bite deaths dwindling, the number of hu- man casualties in human-animal conflict data will also come down. This will be achieved by ensuring the availability of anti-venom in all primary health centres and providing training to ASHA workers to address snake bite incidents. Besides, local bodies and the SDMA will be entrusted with the task of speedy distribution of compensation in conflict cases,” said a forest official.
The policy will include steps to conduct detailed investigations by forest officers into the deaths allegedly cau- sed by wild animals. After investigation, if the case is found to be genuine, steps will be taken to prevent such incidents from happening again in that spot.
“Mitigating the conflict is not the responsibility of the forest department alone. Other departments like revenue, local self-govt, and the state disaster management authority too have to come to the same table in mitigating the conflicts,” the official said. This financial year, four people died in conflict with elephants and five with wild boars in the state.
As per the data, of the total 7,966 human-animal conflict incidents reported in the 2021-22 financial year in Kerala, nearly 83% were for crop damage and property loss. Of the total 114 human deaths caused in conflicts, 57% were caused by snake bites. The rest were by wild elephants, wild boars, wild gaurs, tigers, and others, including bees and wasps.
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