THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Horror, tinged with relief, was writ large on the faces of many as they watched television channels flash news about the spurt in cases of man-wildlife conflict in the northern districts of the state.
Horror because they live on forest fringes in the southern belt and what was unravelling before their eyes could have happened to them, too. And relief because over the past several years, the number of casualties has been almost nil in their region. Any cases of animals inflitrating human habitations involved mostly wild boars and not tigers or leopards. And more thankfully, not elephants.
“Fortunately, such conflicts have not caused many casualties in the southern districts. There have been instances of people getting injured in wildlife attacks, but nothing life-threatening. The tribals in settlements understand animal behaviour and know how to avoid confrontation,” says P K Jayakumar Sharma, Divisional Forest Officer, Ranni. It was in 2020 that the last casualty was reported in this belt, Pathanamthitta district, when A S Biju, a 41-year-old watcher from the Rajampara Forest Station and a native of Laha, was killed in a wild tusker attack.
There are considerable numbers of Bengal tiger, elephant, and Nilgiri tahr in the Agasthyavanam Biological Park (ABP), which lies between the Neyyar and Peppara wildlife sanctuaries in Thiruvananthapuram. There are at least 40 tribal settlements in Neyyar and Peppara alone.
“But there has not been any reported sighting of the Bengal tiger in these areas,” says K N Shyam Mohanlal, Conservator of Forests at ABP. Even elephant, wild boar, and gaur sightings have been nil in Agasthyavanam though there were rare reports from elsewhere in the district. Leopards have been found straying onto forest fringes of late, but they are seen to be running for cover once humans spot them.
Teamwork from local people and alert moves also help ward off casualties, says Ponmudi panchayat member R Radhamani. Last month, three leopard spottings were reported, which included the carcass of a four-and -a-half-month-old cub, at Peppara Pattankulichapara, in front of the Ponmudi police station and also at the local UP school. “Such spottings made us sit up because the Ponmudi UP School is nearby,” Radhamani says. The local administration immediately sprung into action and decided to fence the school area at the earliest.
The difference in forest terrain between norther and southern districts could be a reason for the variance in the number of wild animal attacks, says Jayakumar. “If forests in Wayanad are fragmented, those in the southern region are compact, allowing the wildlife to freely move through their corridors without coming into contact with humans.”
Any chance of elephant herds coming out is in the summer. Such elephant spottings have been seen mostly at Kakki, Moozhiyar, Kochu Pamba, and Gavi reservoirs. “The elephant herds frequent these places, quench their thirst, take a bath in leisure, and then amble back to the forest.” Cases of confrontation with humans have been rare. Nedumangad resident Balachandran recounts an incident, when a tuskless male elephant attacked the jeep he and his colleagues were travelling in one night. “We had a narrow escape.”
There is, however, trouble for people in the forest areas in the south from some animals such as wild boars, gaur, and sloth bears. The list excludes snakes, which are a perennial threat in any fringe areas. The instances of people dying of Russell’s viper and cobra bites are common and the spurt in such cases has prompted the state government to set aside a compensation of `2 lakh and `1 lakh, respectively, to victims of snake bites.
Wild boars top the chart in Thiruvananthapuram when it comes to wild animal threats. Charging wild boars mess up and ravage farmlands, as revealed by reports from Bharathannoor, Chekkakonam, and Pachamala areas in the district. Kallar and Ponmudi also face threats by gaur, says a serving FSO in the Thiruvananthapuram forest division. There have also been reports of occasional straying of elephants into human habitats at Ponmudi, which has a sizeable population of sloth bears, sambar deer, and leopards.
“In Ponmudi, one of the most crowded tourist spots in the district, sloth bear attacks are being reported more. The shaggy, clawed animal attacks Cairns, a stone landmark in the middle of the forest, where bees build their hives,” he says.
Sloth bears have also attacked tribal people in Ponmudi. A tribesman recounts his narow escape when one sloth bear chased him. “Fearing for life, I climbed atop a tree. I remained perched there till the growling animal gave up,” he says.
However, the animals that cause harm in the southern belt are not as ferocious as in the north. They seem more tamed now, says G Balachandran Nair, a former Forest Section Officer, who retired in May 2022 after 27 years of service in Pathanamthitta and Thiruvananthapuram forest divisions. “The wild boars are less wild as they mingle with pigs.”
The animals are also more used to the human population now, decreasing the tendency for conflicts. J R Ani, wildlife warden at Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary which comes under the control of the Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve, observes, “They no longer run for cover when sighting human beings”.
Farming in the fringe areas also has a role in containing man-wildlife conflict, says Ani. The crops grown in the forest fringe farmlands of Wayanad and Kannur have changed from cardamom, coffee, and pepper to sugar cane and plantain now.
This attracts elephants that have been denied the taste of sweetness with invasive plants like Senna Spectabilis covering the entire gamut of the forest region in the hilly areas.
“Elephants hence encroach into farmlands to treat their sweet tooth,” he says.
However, the farmlands in the forest fringes in the south remain traditional in their crop pattern.
The southern belt have been able to minimise the man-wildlife friction by coexisting with the wild better.