Elephant in the room in Rahul Gandhi's Wayanad

We would never have known that an elephant attacked our Ajeesh had it not been captured by a CCTV camera affixed on a coconut treerdquo says a relative of the 47yearold who was killed in February A schoolboy all of 12 years had locked himself in a nearby house and witnessed it all from the windowThe incident took place at 6 am on February 10 at Tirunelli Panchayat Mananthavady in Wayanad Kerala The CCTV footage shows Ajeesh Joseph jumping over a gate to escape a wild tusker but slips and falls The elephant barrels through the closed gate taking down a portion of the compound wall lifts Ajeesh up with his trunk and hurls him He then walks over and is seen walking past the houseForest watcher Vishnu PS whose lungi was pulled by the tusker and hence his hand was fractured in ThissurldquoMy son still has nightmaresrdquo says Ajitha Romith Eldhorsquos mother ldquoHe was about to leave for school when this happenedrdquoFrom January to March 2024 three others in addition to Ajeesh were killed and two more injured by elephants in Thrissur and Wayanad districts Forests cover 11531 sqmts of Wayanadmdashthatrsquos 296 per cent of Kerala The statersquos forests stretch into Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu and into Karnatakarsquos Nagarahole and Bandipur Tiger reserves According to the Economic Review of 202223 elephant attacks have left 41 humans dead in the district and seven lives were lost to tiger attacks over the last decade Altogether 8873 incidents of humanwildlife conflict were reported in Kerala with 98 human casualtiesSibin 22 who lost his father Sibi Mathai to a tusker attack 22 years ago with his grandparents VP Mathai 83 and Anamma 74 PicsAtul KamblePredictably the issue has become a fulcrum for polls in the region Bijoy Thomas Central Zonal Vice President of BJP Thrissur Malappuram and Palakkad says the State has not disbursed funds allotted by the Centre to implement solutions ldquoThe menace has grown so much that people are demanding the Forest department register criminal cases against officials under whose jurisdiction such deaths occurrdquo he saysOn January 29 at around 9 pm 16yearold Shaharth had stepped out of his house in Pakkamrsquos Adivasi colony Pullappally when a tusker hiding behind a jackfruit tree grabbed him and threw him into a ditch His ribs and hips were fractured and he needs assistance to walk and climb stairs The Class 9 student was forced to sit out the academic year TC JosephldquoThe Forest department gave us R12000 and a local politician gave another R2 lakhrdquo say his parents Viajayan BA and Pakkam Karreri who make a daily wage ldquoThe State has given no other compensation Doctors say it will take a long time for Shaharth to be normalrdquoWhile nothing can replace the loss of a human life more so a young one the loss of a source income is a brutal reality for those living on a daily wage Joseph Kunjumon Ajeeshrsquos 75yearold father says many families in the area have lost earning members to wildlife attack ldquoWhy canrsquot a family member be given a job in the Forest ministry They know the terrain and the danger posed by the animals They can do the job well but who cares to listen to merdquoSharathrsquos parents Viajyan and mother Pakkam Karreri show the spot where Sharath was attacked by a tusker in January 2024TC Joseph Chairman of the farmer organisation Wayanad Action Committee to Prevent Wildlife Attack has lived in the area for six decadesHe recalls that Wayanad had a naturally dense forest up till a few decades ago and there was no humananimal conflictThey only started when the government chopped down trees to make way for the Mavoor Gwalior Rayons Factory that turned wood pulp into fibre in neighbouring Kozhikode district Native trees were felled from 1957 to 1985 in about a 86444 sqmtarea 60 per cent of the forest and eucalyptus and teak were planted in their place to generate revenueldquoTeak absorbs underground water and does not allow other plants to growrdquo explains Joseph ldquothus limiting food and water for wildlife By 197980 animals began to be spotted outside the forestrdquoFirst it was wild pigs and boars who could be shooed away by making loud noises Locals had permission to possess guns and they would hunt in the forests However the Wild Life Sanctuary Mudumalai which is a Tamil word for ancient forest was established in 1972 and hunting was banned By 197980 elephants began wandering out of the forest In 2005 a tiger killed a human for the first time in the regionldquoThe first time an elephant killed a man was in 1982rdquo says Joseph ldquoSince then the number of attacks has increased Some years as many as five people are killed The maximum deaths occur in Tirunelli Panchayat where around 80 per cent of the 264sqkm of forest has teak plantationsrdquoAn adult elephant needs 200 kg of food and 250 litres of water a day ldquoIts skin is delicate and heats up with dehydration The irate elephant then transgresses outside the forestrdquo says JosephThe BJP representative points out that yearround productionmdashas opposed to traditionally seasonalmdashavailability of jackfruits bananas and coconuts also contribute to the problem when they are grown as cash cropsldquoThe strong smell of ripening jackfruits attracts wild elephants who eat the fruit and leavesrdquo says Bijoy ldquoEarlier jackfruits would ripen only in a particular season but now it is a general agriculture and the fruit is available all through the yearrdquoNeighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have found a solution to the lack of water They send out water tankers into the forest to refill ponds ldquoThe Forest department is supposed to provide check dams in inner forests for wildrdquo says Bijoy ldquoHowever no one goes inside the forests to inspect these dams for water quality and levelrdquoForest fires also drive the animals out though the government has appointed fire watchers to curb them Right now no human habitat in Wayanad is safe from a wandering elephant Some stray into towns too one had to be shot down after it killed a child in MananthavadyDomestic animals and thus livelihood are also at risk Joseph estimates that over 2000 domestic animals have been killed by wild elephants and tigers in the past decade There has also considerable damage to property farms and vehiclesThe Wayanad Action Committee was formed in 1974 to implement solutions ldquoOne of our main requests was to cut down teak and timber trees and let the forest recuperate naturallyrdquo Joseph says The second request was to fence the forest area ldquoNot all of the forest can be fencedrdquo Joseph understands ldquobut the parts adjoining human settlements can be 50 per cent of the problem will be resolvedrdquoKunjumon holds the government responsible for the breach of boundaries ldquoI blame them for not taking any measures to protect people in spite of so many such deathsrdquo he saysOne could present the conservationistrsquos argument that lack of food and water draws wildlife into human habitation to which Kunjumon responds angrily ldquoThat is the governmentrsquos lookout their duty to take care of the wild animals thererdquoThe opposition BJP in the LDF Left Democratic Front government says the ruling party is not looking beyond solutions that have already failed ldquoThe Forest department erected electric fences which are usually just wires and often not chargedrdquo says Bijoy ldquoWild elephants cross them easily They can even tell which ones are live and push a tree on them to cut off powerrdquoHe says his party has offered solutions that have been successful in other countries ldquoThey generate sounds at a frequency that scares wild life away Another solution is digging trenches demarcating forest limitsrdquo he saysHe predicts the problem will only get worse as the tusker population increases According to government figures 172 new elephants are born each year and an elephant can live up to 80 to 90 yearsldquoWe are confident the BJP candidate from Thrissur Suresh Gopi will win and see to it that there are proposals to safeguard peoplersquos lives and end the menace of animalhuman conflict in Keralardquo Bijoy saysRahul Gandhi who won from Wayanad in 2019 was one of the first politicians to offer condolences to Kunjumon Until then the local MLA OR Kellu Communist Party of India Marxist whose office is a few kilometres away had not visited Chief Minister Pinarai Vijayan visited Vadakkara close to Wayanad but didnrsquot ldquobother to come and visit the affected familiesrdquoDoes Kunjumon trust Gandhi to amend the Wildlife Act as promised In February the Kerala Assembly passed a resolution seeking to amend the Wildlife Protection Act to protect humans ldquoDo you think the State or Centre will let himrdquo Kunjumon retorts4Humans killed by tuskers from JanMarch 2441Humans killed by tuskers in 20222398Human casualties in all KeralalsquoA statespecific disasterrsquoD Jayaprasad Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Wildlife and Chief Wildlife Warden of Kerala weighs inWhat measures has the Forest Department taken to curtail humananimal conflict We have devised shortterm and longterm plans In March Kerala became the first state to declare humananimal strife a State Specific Disaster which means that the State Disaster Management Authority will rope in all departmentsmdashTribal Welfare Revenue Forest Police Fire etc to participate collectively to find solutionsCommittees will be formed at the state district division and grassroots level to delegate responsibilities and have regular coordination meetings and discussionsA Rapid Response Team with additional workforce has been set up for Kerala as have additional Emergency Control rooms and roundtheclock patrolling in sensitive areas has begun These are places with high probability of conflict probabilityIn addition there are 24hour helpline numbers at division district and state levelWe have also started digging trenches to restrict wild animals from crossing over to human habitats wherever possibleDo these measures need fundingWe have an estimated budget of over Rs 200 crore to reduce instances of conflictmdashR110 crore has been set aside from the Kerala Infrastructure Fund State Disaster Fund and NABARD in addition to funds allotted by corporates under CSRIs the leadership involved in these measuresThere have been actionoriented meetings between the chief wildlife wardens of Kerala Tamil Nadu and KarnatakaState ministers have also interacted for better interstate coordination and cooperation for monitoring and sharing intelligence on wild animals especially the movement of elephants from one state to anotherSoon we will have a video meeting with stakeholders from all the states and international bodies to discuss further plansSome major complaints are lack of electrical fencing availability of food and water inside forests deforestation and planting of eucalyptus and teak It is said that Kerala like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu can provide water tankers to fill watering holes for the animals in deep forestsWe must understand that Kerala unlike Tamil Nadu and Karnataka mostly has evergreen and semigreen deciduous forest cover Moreover 44 rivers pass through its forests and we have around 1400 artificial water holes which have sufficient water most of the time We do not have water issues unlike Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as we have sufficient reservoirsKerala has already put up electrical fencing covering around 2800 sq km of forest areas We have also covered 200 to 300 sq kms with hanging solar electrical fencing funded by NABARD at Rs 75 croreHowever we cannot have the same safety measures everywherendashit is dependent on terrain and human habitatPeople have complained about lack of compassion from Forest officers after casualtieshellipWe have taken many proactive measures so the charge is unfair We appeal to the public to participate in the intrastate safety measures such as informing animal movement through helplinesWhat is the cost of maintaining biodiversity Animal population is increasing and there is a lack of adequate food and water inside forests This bound to impact lives livelihood and cropshellipItrsquos a misconception that the wild animal population is increasing Unlike humans who have boundaries wild animals have none The 5520 sq kms of Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve are spread over Tamil Nadu Kerala and Karnataka Wild animals circulate in a 40 to 50 km area on averageThe three states each have Standard Operating Programs for biodiversity and in the case of elephants in particular we have six reserves Our biodiversity is always protected and we are working as one large team for better coordination