KOCHI: The wooded hills of Idukki have been the stomping ground since childhood for 30-year-old Arikomban. Yet, one year ago, he was famously removed from the area after he invaded human habitats and scourged government food shops for rice, which earned him his moniker.
These encounters resulted in the death of about 10 people and the loss of property. The result was his removal from the area, which evoked multiple emotions — locals celebrated it while people elsewhere mourned Arikomban’s ouster from what they called his ‘home’.
It was one of the many incidents of human-animal conflicts that hit headlines. There were umpteen such occurences in the recent years involving tigers, elephants and wild boars, especially towards the northern parts of the state. A study of patterns was probably the need of the hour, as pointed out by ecologists, who also blamed it all on the loss of animal habitat, shrinking forest cover, unmindful development, et al.
For this, the otherwise customary four-year schedule had to be tweaked. And the need for increased coordination with neighbouring states also came up, so that a more accurate and prompt view of wildlife would be made available.
Hence the decision to conduct an elephant count evaluation every year along with the neighbouring states. The exercise was held in 2023, six years after the last. The survey was held for elephants across Kerala and tigers for the Wayanad landscape.
“There were instances of attacks, which prompted the inclusion of tigers in the estimation process,” says R Ganga Singh, principal chief conservator of forests and head of forest force.
This year, however, the estimation only considered the elephant count, based on the block count method. The report titled ‘Elephant Population Estimation in Kerala — 2024’, released on July 16, thus was an inter-state exercise among south Indian states.
It found that the state’s elephant population was 1,793, a 7 per cent decrease from the previous year. It also found there was a significant decline in the population of juvenile elephants (aged 10 years and below) over the past year.
The joint exercise from now will be held every year, according to Ganga, who feels the estimation then will show a more accurate figure. Also, there would be the advantage of info sharing between states, as the forests and animal movements are continuous across the borders.
The data over five to six years can help understand the change in wildlife behaviour and help analyse the situation, says R Sujith, deputy director of Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, who also contributed to the survey. Manpower shortage does not allow a continuous study of the pattern spread out over the year, and hence the survey will be done during the same period every year.
The study was also necessitated because of umpteen assumptions that were made during reports of man-animal conflicts — such as the cases are high due to the increasing population of animals, shrinking forest cover, etc.
“Often, these may be baseless observations and hence the need to analyse the pattern,” Sujith says. For example, there were talks after multiple instances of wild animal attacks that the population of the animals had shot up. However, it was disproved largely by the survey findings of 2023 which put the number of tigers in the Wayanad landscape at 84 as compared to 120 in 2017, and the number of wild elephants at 1,793 in 2024, compared to 3,322 in 2017.
Some senior forest department officials feel the entire process and its outcome cannot be observed linearly. It is a deeper issue, they claim, and has to be understood thus. Tigers, especially, are studied because they are at the top of the food chain and their health implies the general health of the forest. Also, why the animals invade human habitats is not a question of just the lack of food or an increase in their population.
Elephants nowadays move in all-male herds unlike their natural behaviour. This is because the food they find on farms along the fringes is nutritious and they need it in high amounts, especially during their mating period. Also, for them, the taste of salt has become addictive. Hence, they raid shops. As a defence against any possible attack from humans, they move in groups.
Then there is also a loss of space for their movement. The jumbos move in search of food. The corridors and the routes that are in the memory of the oldest female of the herd, which is followed by the rest, now may have given way to encroachments or fenced by humans.
When it comes to tigers, the encroached space as well as the presence of invasive plants makes the herbivores move, forcing the carnivores too to move. Domestic animals come in handy in such cases. “All these are also reasons for the way animal behaviour has changed with time,” says one of the officials, adding that, instead of devising strategies that understand these changes, all that happens is demonising the system.
The circumstances now necessitate a deeper understanding of how forest ecosystems work, says Dr TV Sajeev, chief scientist of the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI). “The numbers should not be considered as a standalone but have to be seen along with the count of the entire wildlife population. As long as it doesn’t go below the threshold, the number of individual animals is fine. What needs to be seen is the swing of numbers with regard to the rest of the forest population...that shows the balance,” he says, adding this is often overlooked while studying the issue.
He cites the example of how a few engineering college students came up with a machine that they claimed could be kept in the forests. It had AI sensors and whenever any animal was found in its vicinity, the machine would provide food that the species required.
“The understanding of the students was that the animals ventured out because of lack of food in the forests and hence if food is provided, they wouldn’t do so. What the students did not take into consideration is the balance of the forest ecosystem. Food in forests is the way animals are naturally regulated. The whole ecology there works on a balance,” he says.
Studying the pattern closely and the context is hence imperative, he says. Also, coexistence is key, and the forest department alone cannot take the onus of change, explains Sajeev.
The KFRI had put together its recommendations involving all stakeholders who operate in and along the forests. “The agricultural department needs to be involved to encourage farmers along forests not to cultivate crops that attract animals, restricting them to the forests and finding their food the natural way. The PWD should understand the forest tracts and paths for development plans. The tourism department should be sensitised not to promote tourism close to forest areas (eg: Kuruva islands in Wayanad. In summer, elephants visit the area in search of water). And the tribal welfare department should make efforts to involve the tribal people and their wealth of info on the topic of forests. We had made the recommendation during Nava Kerala Sadas,” explains Sajeev.