Man-animal conflict has become a serious problem in Kerala.

By   our  special  Correspondent

Thrissur,  Feb  14 (IVC )  In all     910    persons, including Aji at  Mananthavady  on  Fef  10 , were  killed   in   the State  by the  attack  of  wild  animals  of which  only   706  families were given compensation,  the  official sources said  .

                Besides, 7492   persons  suffered injuries  by the attack  of wild animals, the  sources  added. During  the  fiscal  2021-22 , 1191  persons’  crops were  destroyed  and suffered  injuries  and they  have to still get the compensation declared  the  Government .     Two-thousand-two-hundred   and twenty-two    persons for the fiscal 2022-23 have  to  obtain compensation and  3360  persons during the fiscal 2023-24.

                The  delay  in disbursing the compensation  was due to  paucity  of funds, victims’ inability to  produce  the requisite  documents and  difficulty  in identifying the deceased  persons, the source said.

                The year-wise  details of  the deceased are given   as  per  the  order  of  year, number  of  deceased and those who  received    compensation : 2016  142   118, 2017  110  93,  2018  134  107,  2019   100    80,   2020   100,  85,  2021  127  105, 2022  111   70,  2023  85  48.

                During  last  36  years , 118  persons  were killed  in the Wynad  District alone  by  the attack of wild animals   and eight   persons  were    killed per  year,  the  sources said.

It  is an ordinary  event  for wild elephants, tigers and wild boars  enter the human habitation and attack the  innocent people.

The statistics  available  with the Forest   Department   and other agencies portrayed  a poor picture of the affairs in State .  As  per the records  available with  the  Forest  Department , 202  people were killed  in the State  from 2012  to February 2023  in wild elephants attacks

                On the other  hand, domesticated elephants  killed 196  people  in the State mainly  at  festival  venues during the period  from 2011 to  2023, according to the data  available with the Heritage Animal  Task  Force, an organization  of  animal welfare activists. “We  could  hardly see any  serious protests against  the  tragic  incidents   involving  captive  elephants.  This  is evident  from  the  tale  of   Thechikottkavu  Ramachandran that allegedly  killed  13  persons in the past two decades, but  still  remains   much sought-after  at the festival venues in the State.  However , there  has  been a  marked drop in human casualities  at  festval  venues  since  2023  following  the  intervention of animal  rights activists and  media against  the abuse of  elephants  in festival venues”, said  V  K Venkitachalam  General  Secretary  of the Organization.