KOCHI: The social sigma attached to gender bias, casteism, mental illness and poverty has been deeply rooted in our culture. However, the families living on forest fringes are facing another challenge.
Frequent news reports about wild animal attacks have created a stigma that has been discriminative and has devastated their lives.
“The families are not ready to discuss the issue, but people are selling their landholdings at modest rates and migrating to towns nearby. But there are poor families with small landholdings who have no other option but to battle the wild animals and live in poverty. Who will dare marry off their daughters to areas where elephants and tigers roam freely,” asks Catholic Congress global director Fr Philip Kaviyil.
Real estate value has crashed, he says.
“It is not a simple issue. During Christmas, I visited a hamlet in Kannur where people said wild elephants are roaming the village day and night. However, they don’t want to discuss the issue in public as it will affect their social lives. People have stopped venturing out after nightfall. Churches in forest fringe areas witnessed a lean crowd for Christmas midnight mass due to a fear of wild animals,” he says.
More than the decline in land value, it is the social impact of the wild animal menace that has devastated lives, says Rajesh, a farmer in Wayanad.
“As the news about wild animal attacks spreads, people stop visiting us and reject marriage proposals. People are ready to sell off their land and migrate but the prices have hit rock bottom. We will not be able to purchase a house with the price offered for our landholdings,” Rajesh says.
The forest department has installed AI cameras, digital display boards and sirens in 12 hamlets to alert villagers about the presence of wild animals.
“After a few months, the digital display in a village was found damaged. During the probe, the villagers said the digital display and siren were stopping outsiders from visiting the village. They said people are refusing marriage proposals and the land value has declined,” says a forest officer.
The human-wildlife conflict is more a socio-cultural, economic and political issue which requires a deep debate, says Chief Wildlife Warden Pramod G Krishnan. “There are 750 human settlements surrounded by forests in Kerala. Those living in such settlements have to pass through forest stretches to reach the outside world. Among the eight deaths reporting to be from wild elephant attacks during the past nine months, five occurred inside the forest. People should be cautious while moving through forest areas,” he says.
Kerala has a 16,000km-long forest boundary and it is impossible to barricade the entire area, the officer says.
“A rail fence costs Rs 2.5 crore per km while the hanging solar-powered fence costs Rs 8 lakh per km. The human-wildlife conflict in Kerala is a complex issue and it needs a multi-faceted solution. We have to improve habitat quality and reduce human-wildlife interactions. Looking from a Kerala perspective, I feel the human-wildlife conflict is not just an ecological issue, as livelihood is involved. It needs to be addressed with stress on the human angle,” Pramod says.
From Urulanthanni in Kothamangalam to Chinnakanal in Idukki and Vadakkanad in Wayanad, people are fleeing the forest fringes because of the wild elephant menace.
“The social stigma caused by the elephant menace is a reality and the stories of the struggles of farmers are heart-wrenching,” says Kerala Independent Farmers Association chairman Alex Ozhukayil.
“There are multiple reasons for the increasing elephant menace, including forest degradation caused by the destruction of grasslands and the growth of invasive species.”
He says a lack of fodder drives elephants to human habitations where there is easy availability of food.
“The elephants are road openers in crop raid. An adult elephant needs 200kg of green fodder a day, but it will go on a rampage and destroy 1,000kg of crops. Smaller species like Indian gaur and sambar deer follow the elephant herds to feed on the left over fodder,” Alex says.
The forest department should create a 100m-wide Human Sensitive Zone along the forest boundary to increase visibility which can help spot the wild animals from a distance, he says.
“This will help reduce human casualty. Hanging solar fences are ineffective in stopping wild animals as creepers spread and cause short circuit,” he adds.