Karnataka stares at steady rise in deaths caused by wildlife

Bengaluru: Apart from the conflict with elephants that accounted for 65 per cent of all the deaths caused by wild animals in the past 11 years, data from the Forest Department shows that Karnataka is also staring at a steady rise in the incidents of deaths caused by other wildlife.

Between 2013-14 and 2023-24, as many as 506 persons were killed in negative interactions with wildlife. While elephants accounted for 332 (65.5 per cent) of the mortalities, officials believe deaths caused by other wild animals need to be taken equally seriously in the interest of conservation.

During the 11-year period, leopards killed 33 persons, followed by tigers (32), wild boar (29), bear (27), crocodile (27), gaur (15)  and wolf (5). The data doesn’t include the number of incidents involving minor and major injuries, but the deaths put in perspective challenges faced by the Forest Department.

Conservationists have attributed the rise in conflict situations to the shrinking of natural habitats, caused by encroachments, development works and degradation of the natural environment by invasive species. Experts believe both local factors like land use change or global factors like climate change that leads to extreme weather phenomena like droughts and floods, have exacerbated the situation.

With 59 deaths overall, 2023-24 saw the highest number of deaths in the last 11 years. Overall, the last five years have seen a steady increase in the tragic incidents involving all animals. Killings by leopards were in the range of 1 to 3 between 2013-14 and 2018-19. The number of mortalities jumped to 6 in 2022-23.

Tigers have killed five people in each of the last two years. Wild boar attacks killed about two people earlier. It jumped to four in each of the last three years. Similarly, killings by crocodile and gaur had also seen an uptick. Except for the blank in the last year, wolf attacks had led to four deaths in as many previous years.

The increasing presence and sighting of leopards in human habitats has time and again brought the situation to a head in recent years. “The reproductive capacity of the leopards combined with highly adaptable behaviour of the animals means their numbers in the villages and city fringes will only increase in the coming years. We are at a critical point. A crisis is not far ahead,” a retired officer said.

Senior officials in the department said some unpopular initiatives have to be taken against individual animals identified as problem animals in order to save the entire species. “The Wildlife (Protection) Act permits killing of a problem animal. However, no officer is in favour of giving that order. Moreover, it is difficult to justify such harsh measures without recovering encroached forests and improving habitats,” a conservationist said.

To a question, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Subhash K Malkhede said the department was aware of the problem and said there was a need to update management practices. “Even within a single species, we need to adopt different managerial practices depending on whether the animal is coming from a forest or thriving within the human habitations,” he said.