Human-elephant conflicts led to 126 deaths in Kerala in last 6 years, reveals report

Kochi: A total 126 deaths were reported in human-elephant conflicts in Kerala within the last six years. This excludes the death of two plantation workers in Palappilly in Thrissur a few days back. Almost 3310 people died in the country in the same period due to human-elephant conflicts. 

According to the reports of India’s Forest and Wildlife Department, the highest number of human-elephant conflicts take place in Odisha. In total, 589 deaths were reported in Odisha in six years. Kerala stands eighth on this list.

According to the reports acquired by K Govindan Namboodiri through RTI from the Forest department, this is a major drawback in the functioning of the policies to reduce human-wildlife conflicts. The conventional precautions like building electric fences etc have failed to drive away the elephants, according to the wildlife researchers.

Dr P S Isa, a wildlife researcher, said that the usage of elephant ‘attacks’ is wrong because it is the humans who panic on seeing the wild elephants. When they behave oddly, the elephants get provoked and this ends up in attack and deaths. 99 percent of such incidents are in fact accidents. A good awareness regarding how to behave in the forest and its borders should be given to everyone, Dr Isa added.