A tiger perched comfortably on a wall in the middle of a village in Pilibhit made headlines recently. It is not the first incident of man-animal conflict. Karnataka has witnessed many such incidents in the past involving tigers or elephants.
Dwindling wildlife population specially tiger’s about a decade ago, presented a major issue about the ecological balance and human existence. Tigers’ number has increased due to sustained efforts of the Government, and so have the man-animal conflicts. Who is responsible? Should wildlife conservation efforts be stopped due to this? What is the solution?
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, PCCF and Chief Wildlife Warden of Karnataka Mr. Subhash K Malkhede answers all these.
IT IS BOUND TO HAPPEN
Karnataka is not only witnessing the rise of the wildlife population (tiger, elephant & leopard) but the trends are also positive. Earlier while only one of four tiger cubs used to survive, now the survival rate is high. Almost every elephant herd has two-three calves.
The increased number first leads to fight between the species. “The young and adult tigers push the old or weak one in order to capture their territory. The vanquished tigers move to fringe areas and first attack cattle. The human kills mostly happen accidently because these wild animals avoid engaging with humans”, says the officer.
Similarly, the elephant moves in the herds and they have a different social structure. These are one of the most intelligent species. Mr. Malkhede said that young elephants are pushed out of the herd to avoid in- breeding. Just like human, these young elephants also like adventure and in search of better food they keep moving. Sometime they team up with other young adults and mostly these are only caught up in a conflict with humans.
ARE WE RESPONSIBLE?
Most of the conflict case are registered in fringe areas or just inside the forest. Due to the increased facility of irrigation, the agriculture land is now touching the forest area engulfing the buffer zone. Besides, the forests are also fragmented with increased development.
In Karnataka, the elephant and man conflicts are also mostly happening in the Kodagu or Hassan region which are coffee estate. These estates don’t have adjoining forest and have lots of jackfruit & banana which are elephant’s favourite. “Those estate were forest earlier and while elephant is a ranging animal, it also doesn’t forget its path. Yet, out of 6500 elephants in the state only about 200 are in those areas. We can’t push them away as estate are not adjoined by any forest area”, says the officer.
DEPARTMENT IS PUTTING 100% EFFORTS
Balance and co-existence are important for our survival too. The only solution is awareness and quick-response. The Karnataka forest department is doing all the efforts to track the movements of animals. Many have been radio-collared. Besides that, camera traps, drones are also in place. In case of animal movement, an alert is sent to each individual living around the forest. All one has to do is follow the instructions.
“Sometime they ignore our message and try to challenge the animal. In some case the accident happens when the person is drunk or during open defecation. We become helpless in such avoidable circumstances stop that. The department is putting in 100% effort, the public also need to support”, says the officer.
He also mentioned the successful capture of a tiger from Bandipur last year in November. The tiger had killed few cattle and a human being too. The forest team captured it after a lot of planning and efforts. “But forest officials are made the fall guy every time there is a mishap? How fair is that,” he asks.
