CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu is witnessing a sharp increase in human-wildlife conflict, with the current fiscal year recording 80 human deaths, the highest in five years. It can be recalled that on Tuesday, a German national died after being attacked by a wild tusker at Tiger Valley near Valparai.
Besides the human deaths, the state has experienced 4,235 crop damage incidents, 259 livestock deaths, 176 cases of property damage, and 138 human injuries so far in 2024-25, according to Chief Wildlife Warden Rakesh Kumar Dogra.
He revealed this during a session on resilient forest management to combat climate change organised as part of the Tamil Nadu Climate Summit 3.0. Dogra explained that these figures show the complexity of managing an environment where thriving wildlife populations and human settlements increasingly collide.
“Our growing tiger population is a positive sign for conservation, but it also poses significant challenges in terms of human-wildlife conflict,” Dogra said. He pointed out that despite TN’s forest cover being only 24.5% — below the national average — the state’s forests are among the richest in biodiversity.
This has enabled the maintenance of a stable elephant population of 3,063, and a nearly four-fold increase in the tiger population from the baseline year of 2005-06, reaching a peak of 306 as per the 2022-23 census.
The rising number of conflict incidents, according to Dogra, is primarily driven by severe anthropogenic pressures.
Expansion of agri land exacerbating issue
Habitat degradation, fuelled by extensive development and fragmentation of forested areas, has reduced the natural buffers between human settlements and wildlife habitats. The expansion of agricultural lands, particularly the cultivation of crops that are highly attractive to wildlife, further exacerbates the issue by luring animals out of forests, he added.
In addition to encroachment and habitat fragmentation, invasive species have emerged as a significant factor contributing to habitat degradation. Tamil Nadu’s forests are battling an invasion of Lantana covering more than two lakh hectares and Senna over 3,000 hectares, which disrupts the natural ecosystem and diminishes the quality of wildlife habitats.
These ecological imbalances, combined with fragmented corridors that are essential for the migratory movements of large herbivores like elephants, have intensified conflicts between humans and wildlife. The state government has responded with a multi-pronged strategy aimed at mitigating these challenges.
Dogra outlined several measures that include the introduction of a regulatory framework for registering power offenses to ensure the use of standardised, safe power fences — an initiative designed to prevent electrocution deaths.
“We are committed to using innovative solutions and technology, from integrating artificial intelligence into railway systems to thermal drones that monitor animal movement and emit deterrent sounds.”