As human–wildlife conflict dominates politics, fatalities fall

Even as human–wildlife conflict remains a major political issue across much of the State, official statistics point to a marked decline in deaths resulting from such incidents.

According to figures released by the State government, as many as 67 people lost their lives in human–wildlife conflict during the previous financial year, 2024–25. This marks a sharp decline from the 145 deaths reported in 2016–17. The figures, presented during an online review meeting conducted by the Principal Chief Secretary, were obtained under the Right to Information Act by activist Kulathoor Jaisingh.

During the 2024–25 financial year, the report recorded 19 deaths due to elephant attacks, 34 due to snakebites and one death each caused by wild boar, tiger and gaur attacks. One death was attributed to other causes. Of the 19 elephant related fatalities, 15 occurred within forest areas and 13 of the victims belonged to tribal communities.

Snakebites

The Chief Wildlife Warden pointed out that nearly 50% of the total deaths were caused by snakebites, many of which occurred in non forest areas. However, since compensation for snakebite fatalities is provided by the Forest department, these cases are also included under the category of human–wildlife conflict.

In several other States, deaths classified as human–wildlife conflict typically include only those caused by elephant attacks and large carnivores. The department is therefore considering separating snakebite fatalities from the overall human–wildlife conflict statistics.

The report notes that deaths due to wildlife attacks have been declining steadily since 2016–17. From 2011 until the last financial year, a total of 1,549 human deaths were reported in wildlife related incidents, of which 1,158 were caused by snakebites.

Kerala has approximately 16,000 kilometres of forest boundaries, with around 4,000 kilometres identified as areas prone to human–wildlife conflict. Nearly 1,000 human habitations are located within forest regions.

As State disaster

While achieving a completely conflict free human–wildlife interface is considered unrealistic, the report observes that appropriate interventions could reduce the intensity of such conflicts by up to 50%. In 2024, human–wildlife conflict was declared a State disaster, following which 36 emergency response centres were established and 28 Rapid Response Teams were made operational.

The report states that 30 local self government institutions, including two municipalities and 28 grama panchayats, fall within high risk zones for wildlife attacks across the State.