NEW DELHI: The toll of human deaths due to animal attacks has seen a steady rise in the last five years, even as the funds to mitigate such conflicts have dwindled. In last five years, the Central government has cut the funds to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts by 67 per cent. The Wildlife Habitat Development Funds, which is meant for protection and restoration of animal habitats, was reduced by two-thirds. Funds under Project Tiger was cut by 50 per cent.
Consequently, the number of human deaths due to encounters with tigers and elephants have gone up, data shows. According to official data released by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the habitat development fund released in 2018-19 was Rs 165 crore, which shrunk to Rs 56 crore in 2022-23. Funds released under the ‘Project Tiger’ was Rs 322.9 crore in 2019, which was consistently reduced to Rs 150.6 crore by 2023.
Maharashtra tops in terms of human deaths in encounters with tigers, while Odisha tops in deaths due to encounter with elephants. Elephants are proving to be more fatal to humans as the death toll is six times higher than in tiger attacks.
As per MoEFCC data, the number of human deaths due to tiger attacks reached an all-time high of 103 in 2022. The lowest was 31 in 2018, followed by 49 in 2019, 51 in 2020 and 59 in 2021. The majority of deaths due to tiger attacks were reported from Maharashtra at 85. The other states that reported higher tiger attacks are UP, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. In case of elephant attacks, the number of deaths reached to 605 in 2022. In 2018, 457 deaths were reported; 586 in 2019, 464 in 2020 and 545 in 2021.