KOZHIKODE: The death of a young woman, who was trampled by a wild elephant, in Wayanad has once again brought to the fore the unending human-wildlife conflict. This month itself, a plantation estate labourer, Parvathi Parashuraman, died after she was attacked by an elephant at Kunnambatta near Meppadi in Wayanad while returning home after work. In 2020, 20 people were killed in wild elephant attacks in the state.
The figure was 15 in 2019. At the same time, of the 113 wild elephant deaths in Kerala forests last year, 11 were unnatural - electrocution, hunting or through explosives - where humans played a direct role.
"Whatever barrier we place between humans and elephants – elephant-proof trenches, walls and rail fences as well as solar fences - elephants somehow overcome it. They are intelligent enough to find a loophole," said Chief Wildlife Warden Surendrakumar.
"Earlier generations had a tolerance level which led to them sharing wildlife space with wild animals. They knew that the space belongs to animals too. Now, people have become intolerable to an extent similar to the India-Pakistan border situation," he said.
Three elephant hotspots
BN Anjan Kumar, Conservator of Forests and Technical Assistant to Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, said there are three elephant hotspots in the state where jumbo intervention is more frequent. "They are Aralam and Wayanad and Palakkad districts (excluding Nenmara and Parambikulam divisions). Of them, Aralam is the major hotspot," he said.
Two people, include a tribal youth, died in jumbo attacks at Aralam. Sources said frequent jumbo-human conflicts in Aralam are a result of the allotting of land between Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary (AWS) and Aralam Farming Corporation (Kerala) Ltd (AFCL) to tribal people.
"Before AWS was set up, the entire area was an elephant corridor. Later, the government allotted 3,500 acres of AFCL to 1,500 tribal people. The forest department was against allotting the elephant corridor space for human settlement. Around 800 people live in the settlement, leaving 70 per cent of the land as forest land. The remaining land of AFCL has plenty of crops like cocoa, jackfruit and pineapple which attract elephants. Hence, the animals sneak into 'human settlements'," said a source.
AWS Wildlife Warden Shajna Karim said the terrain is undulated with hills. "Elephants prefer plain land and, hence, sneak into farms and tribal settlements. We have 24x7 patrolling here throughout the year. Since there is only a narrow road, there is no way to take a U-turn if an elephant appears suddenly," Shajna said.
The forest team recently came face to face with a herd of elephants just 10m away. "If there is calf in the herd, we have to wait for several hours to drive them away," she said.
Unsafe tent led to Shahana's death
The death of Shahana (26) at Rainforest resort in Wayanad is learnt to be caused due to her staying in a tent which had no safety measure. “Staying in a tent is part of adventure tourism and the tourism department has categorised 30 such adventure tourism activities. Tailor-made guidelines for tenting are yet to be issued. However, resorts are taking advantage of tents during Covid times as they are cheap and can be set up easily,” said B Anand, secretary, Wayanad District Tourism Promotion.
Wild elephant deaths in 2020
Total deaths 113
Natural deaths 103
Due to explosives 4
Due to electrocution 3
Due to hunting 1
Due to poisoning 1
Cause unknown 1
Deaths caused by jumbo attacks
2020: 20
2019: 15