Human-Animal Conflict- Relevance for UPSC Exam
- GS Paper 3: Environment- Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation.
Human-Animal Conflict in News
- Recently, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Forest, Environment and Climate Change recently informed about Human-Animal Conflict and various Tigers, Elephants and People that killed in these conflicts.
- Minister also informed that as a result of concerted efforts made for protection and conservation of wildlife, the population of several wildlife species like Tigers, Elephants, Asiatic Lion, Rhino etc. in the country has increased.
Human-Animal Conflict- Key Findings
- Elephant Deaths: Between 2018-19 and 2020-21, 222 elephants were killed by electrocution across the country, 45 by trains, 29 by poachers and 11 by poisoning.
- Among the 222 elephant deaths caused by electrocution, Odisha accounted for 41, Tamil Nadu for 34 and Assam for 33.
- Odisha (12 out of 45) also had the highest number of elephant deaths caused by trains, followed by West Bengal (11) and Assam (9).
- Poaching deaths were highest in Meghalaya (12 out of 29) while poisoning deaths were highest in Assam (9 out of 11, including 8 in 2018-19 alone).
- Tiger Deaths: Among tigers, too, 29 were killed by poaching between 2019 and 2021, while 197 tiger deaths are under scrutiny.
- For tiger deaths caused by human activity, the Lok Sabha reply did not provide a state-wise break-up.
- Human Casualties by Elephants: Among human casualties of conflict with animals, elephants killed 1,579 humans in three years — 585 in 2019-20, 461 in 2020-21, and 533 in 2021-22.
- Odisha accounted for the highest number of these deaths at 322, followed by Jharkhand at 291 (including 133 in 2021-22 alone), West Bengal at 240, Assam at 229, Chhattisgarh at 183, and Tamil Nadu at 152.
- Human Casualties by Tigers: Tigers killed 125 humans in reserves between 2019 and 2021. Maharashtra accounted for nearly half these deaths, at 61.
Causes of Human-Animal Conflict
Assessments of human-wildlife conflicts indicate that the main causes of human wildlife conflict include-
- Habitat loss,
- Growth of population of wild animals,
- Changing cropping patterns that attract wild animals to farmlands,
- Movement of wild animals from forests area to human dominated landscapes for food and fodder,
- Movement of human beings to forests for illegal collection of forest produce,
- Habitat degradation due to growth of invasive alien species, etc.
Tiger Deaths, Tiger Conservation status and Protection Measures in India