Man Vs Wild: As human-animal conflict increases, what can be done to mitigate this crisis?

After a long day at work, Shiv Kumar, 39, was returning home from his field that abuts the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh. Suddenly, he and his friend Bhola Singh sighted a tiger. They jumped into the nearby Sharda canal and swam for 4-5 km, thinking they had escaped the tiger that had been tailing them. But once they made their way back to the road, the tiger, which was following them, pounced on them. “The beast dragged Shiv Kumar to the forests. I could not do anything as I was too weak after the long swim,” Bhola, a farmer at Ramnagra village, recalls the 2020 attack.

Shiv Kumar is one of the 25 people killed by tigers in the reserve forests of Uttar Pradesh in the past three years. Across India, 31 people were killed by tigers in 2021, according to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The numbers for 2019 and 2020 were 50 and 44, respectively. Casualties of elephant attack are many times that. According to data submitted in Parliament last month, 1,578 people died in elephant attacks in the country in the last three years.

There is no let-up in human-animal conflict as people encroach on forests and animals move closer to human habitations. This leads to loss of life, property and crops and negates the positive impact of conservation efforts. “The main causes of human-wildlife conflict include habitat loss, growth of population of wild animals, changing cropping patterns that attract wild animals to farmlands, movement of wild animals from forest area to human habitations for food and fodder, movement of human beings to forests for illegal collection of forest produce,” says Ashwini Kumar Choubey, minister of state for environment, forest and climate change.

The population of animals has grown beyond the carrying capacity of protected areas (PAs). Conservation efforts for the big species such as tigers, lions and elephants have led to an increase in their population, forcing them to venture out of their habitats to seek food and water. According to the tiger census of 2018-19, India is home to 2,967 tigers with a population growth rate of 6% per annum. Lions of Gir continue to be the pride of India: their count has increased from 523 in the 2015 census to 674 in 2020.

Though there is no way to completely eradicate human-animal conflict, experts say efforts must be made to control it. “Since animals often move outside for food and water, adequate resources should be made available inside the protected areas. Fencing of protected areas, closer surveillance of hotspots where animals are sighted and radio-collaring of difficult animals are some of the steps showing results and must be scaled up massively,” says Medha Nayak, humanwildlife conflict mitigation team lead, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI).

In this strife, animal lives matter, too. “It is called conflict only when people are affected. It is equally important to recognise that wild animals also suffer due to human actions that may result in serious contraction of their habitats and populations,” says Ravi Chellam, CEO, Metastring Foundation, and coordinator, Biodiversity Collaborative.

Two years back, a pregnant wild elephant wandered into a village in Kerala and bit into a pineapple stuffed with explosives. Ganga Singh, chief wildlife warden of Kerala, says strict action has been taken against such activities. “People used to put crude bombs in fruits to save their lives, crops and property from wild animals. We sensitised villagers about the damage caused by such crude bombs and warned them of strict action. Also, their cooperation was sought to prevent the killing of wild animals. As a result no such incident has been reported since then,” he says.

Kerala is home to 5,706 of 27,312 elephants in India, as per the 2018 census. “We have a sizable population of elephants. Keeping in mind the growing incidents of human-elephant conflict, we have put solar fencing and elephantproof trenches in areas prone to conflict. We need to protect not just human beings but also animals. We involve gram panchayats in taking such measures. But in order to maintain these and scale them up, we need funds and have asked the central government for financial help,” says AK Saseendran, minister for forests and wildlife protection, Kerala. Ganga Singh points out that maintenance of fences and trenches is a challenge as elephants often break fences and fill the trenches with mud after rainfall.

While trenches and fencing might work for the pachyderm, lions and tigers need different strategies. “No single solution will work across all protected areas and wildlife habitats for all species. What people perceive as a solution in one place might be disregarded in another, and what might have worked somewhere might have a completely different effect elsewhere,” says Chellam.

Different states and different animals would need unique strategies in terms of building barriers, involving locals, using technology and creating awareness.

When wild animals attack people and damage property, it can instil a negative attitude towards wildlife, exacerbating conflict and undermining conservation efforts. The need to foster community based conservation efforts can hardly be overemphasised.

Gir, which has 674 lions across a 30,000 sq km area, is a classic example of shared landscape and coexistence. “Lions do not attack animals unless provoked. Tribals have been living with lions in close vicinity for ages. Our forest officers work in close coordination with Vanya Prani Mitra whom we train regularly on how to tackle conflicts. We keep a 24-hour watch using wireless systems, towers and the locals. Contribution of tribals is crucial here,” says Aradhana Sahu, chief conservator of forests, Junagarh Wildlife Circle, Gir, who adds that every year they train people from other states on how to effectively tame human-animal conflict.

Community-led and community-based mitigation efforts will go a long way. Another step in this direction is the training of Bagh Mitra – who will report tiger-straying and human-tiger conflict incidents to forest officials for prompt action – by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) in coordination with the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve.

Nitin Sekar, national lead-elephant programme, WWF-India, says communities often lack the resources necessary to help protect themselves and their property from wildlife. “They need requisite support to mitigate the crisis,” he says.

Nayak of WTI, too, says, “Even physical barriers will be successful only with the engagement of the local community. They can ensure maintenance of such barriers and also be the man on ground for firsthand information.”

Experts point out that in states like Maharashtra, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, a good compensation scheme for losses due to human-animal conflict has helped. “Many state governments are doing pretty well in their response like giving compensation for loss of crop and life but this is done after the loss has occurred. Governments must prepare strategies to avoid this conflict by bringing the right community-led policies by involving all stakeholders,” says Qamar Qureshi, scientist at Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

Many initiatives are underway. Several states and Project Tiger are trying to improve their data-management systems. The governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are trying to remove invasive species on a large scale so that wild animals have enough to eat inside PAs. The Assam government is working with NGOs and other stakeholders to come up with solutions such as collaring of wild elephants to track their routes that could alert people if the animals come close to their villages.

Can wild animals and people really coexist without any loss of life or property? “Man has always been in conflict with animals. All we can do is mitigate the problem. To say that such problems will vanish one day is a misconception,” says Qureshi.