Deaths and destruction: Why human-animal conflicts in Kerala are climbing

It was neither night, the wee hours, nor dawn—it happened in broad daylight. Radha, a tribal woman from Pancharakkolli, Wayanad, was attacked and killed by a tiger, who devoured parts of her body. A daily wage labourer working in a coffee plantation, Radha was dropped off at the estate road by her husband, Appachan, around 11 am on January 24. As she walked through the estate road, the tiger pounced on her from behind, killing her before dragging her deep into the forest and consuming parts of her body.

Three days later, the tiger was found dead, presumably from fatal wounds sustained in a fight with another tiger. An autopsy revealed Radha’s remains, including her ear stud, in the tiger’s stomach.

A tiger spotted in Wayanad's human habitat in 2023.

Radha’s death is not an isolated one, but yet another tragic chapter in the ongoing human-wildlife conflict across Kerala in recent months. Every instance of a human fatality has sparked angry protests from locals, who accuse the forest department of inaction. Official records show that at least eight people have been killed in tiger attacks in Wayanad over the past decade.

The government had declared the tiger—a female—as a man-eater and ordered it to be shot on sight following intense public protests. The agitation escalated to the point where ministers were booed and prevented from visiting the victim's home. A veterinary and forest team, led by Dr. Arun Zachariah, was deployed to track the animal, but the tiger remained elusive, leaving no clear sightings. On one occasion, the team had a close encounter with the predator, during which an RRT guard sustained minor injuries.

Poochappara Mani was a well-known figure among the tribal community of Cholanaikkan. He was very active in community-related activities and was popular among researchers and activists who work among the tribes of North Kerala. Mani was attacked by a tusker on January 4 near the Cholanaikkan settlement of Kurulai, Malappuram district, and later succumbed to his injuries in a nearby hospital.

His relatives and friends in the hamlet have complaints against the forest department, believing that if the officials had acted swiftly, Mani could have been saved.

“He was walking back to his settlement after reaching the nearby road in a jeep when the elephant attacked. We tried every way to get a vehicle to take him to the hospital, but the forest department did not take our calls seriously. We lost crucial hours before admitting him to the hospital. He was carried by people on foot for 1.5 kilometres, and even then, we had to wait for the forest vehicle to arrive,” said a community member who is afraid to be named.

Mani was the third Cholanaikkan man to be killed by an elephant in recent years. The first was Sivan in 2017, followed by chieftain Mathan in 2022, and now Mani in 2025.

“Mani’s knowledge of the forest was astonishing. If an elephant was nearby, he could identify it through its scent or sound. He had the ability to evade approaching elephants. Mani possessed profound knowledge about the flora, creepers, birds, and animals of the Chola forests. He was a highly trustworthy companion for researchers who came to study the wilderness,” remembers Mini PV, research officer with the KIRTARDS (Kerala Institute for Research Training and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes).

The wild animal attack is not confined to the in-forests or tribal settlements only. Many people who live outside the forest area too have fallen prey to the attacks.

Eldos Varghese, 45, of Ululanthanni near Kothamangalam in Ernakulam district, was a security guard in Kochi. He was attacked by a wild elephant last December while returning home from work around 8 pm.

“It was a horrifying experience. I was driving home in my auto-rickshaw when I saw the elephant ahead. There were two other vehicles behind mine. Panic set in, and we all tried to reverse and escape. After passing the spot, I saw a man lying on the ground, trampled by the tusker. We rushed to the forest office and alerted the officials and the panchayat member. It was I who identified Eldos—he was my classmate,” said Suresh, an eyewitness to the incident.

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While driving to Malakkappara, a forested area in the Thrissur district and passing the Athirappilly waterfalls, I spotted an elephant last weekend. Just after I crossed the forest check post near Thumboormuzhi, a guard on a motorcycle approached me and warned that a tusker was ahead, advising me not to stop or exit the vehicle to take photos. A few minutes later, I saw the elephant taking a mud bath just to the left of the road, completely absorbed in its play and showing no interest in my vehicle. But it was broad daylight and he was just on the road totally inside a human habitat, with tourist locations and vacation crowd very nearby.

An elephant crossing zone warning on Pooppara-Munnar road.

Between 2011 and early 2025, Kerala has witnessed a significant number of human fatalities due to wild animal attacks, as recorded by the State Forest Department. A total of 1,417 deaths have been reported over this period, with snakebites accounting for the highest number of fatalities. The year 2018-19 recorded the highest number of deaths (146), while the lowest was in the ongoing 2024-25 period (as of January 24, 2025), with 53 deaths. Among the major wildlife threats, elephants were responsible for a substantial number of fatalities, with peak incidents in 2021-22 (35 deaths) and 2020-21 (27 deaths). Wild boar attacks have also seen a rise in recent years, with 11 deaths in 2023-24 and 8 in 2024-25. Fatal encounters with wild gaurs, though less frequent, have been recorded sporadically, with four cases in 2023-24. Tiger attacks have been relatively rare, with only isolated incidents, the highest being two deaths in both 2017-18 and 2019-20. Other wild animals, including unidentified species, have also caused casualties, peaking in 2022-23 with five deaths. The data highlights the persistent human-wildlife conflict in Kerala. The fluctuating numbers over the years suggest that certain mitigation measures, such as improved response strategies and community awareness programs, may have contributed to reductions in specific attack types.

According to the state planning board’s working group, addressing issues related to human-wildlife interactions in the state, human-wildlife conflicts are largely a human-induced phenomenon, compounded by the species-specific behavioural ecology of animals and external environmental factors.

“Animals, especially elephants, when confined to smaller areas by habitat loss and poaching leading to localised high densities may engage in crop-raiding in the surrounding areas. Also, farmers have abandoned communal planting and guarding activities that are used to reduce crop loss. It has been argued by the affected that the increase in wildlife population numbers (especially elephants) following improved anti-poaching measures has led to some elephants losing their fear of people. Despite inconclusive evidence, it is also held that human intrusions displace elephants, which in turn depend on crop-raiding to survive in resource-poor habitats. Other reasons attributed to conflict situations are the creation of abundant secondary vegetation due to human activities and artificially maintained water sources that attract elephants, and the severance of traditional migration routes or movement paths by human interventions, such as canals, power installations, agriculture, settlements, and fences, leading to aggressive behaviour” reads the document prepared for the fourteenth five-year plan between 2022- 2027.

The analysis of threats to biodiversity conservation and management of natural resources in various forest divisions of Kerala shows that human-wildlife conflict is a threat in almost all forest divisions, especially in the northern region.

The working group of experts have suggested mitigation measures for all negative interactions should be developed on the basic premise of meaningful engagement with and participation of all primary stakeholders, especially local communities.

The broad strategies recommended by the group to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts in the state include, creation of physical barriers to prevent animals from reaching the human habitations and crop fields, adoption of measures to avoid the interface between humans and wild animals, developing infrastructure and human resources for effective mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts, providing ex-gratia, crop insurance, life insurance, and ex-gratia to the victims of wildlife damage involving panchayaths and line departments to assist in conflict management, strengthening people’s participation in the mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts, improvement of the habitat of animals in the forest including grasslands and waterholes to provide adequate food and water inside the forest itself and training, awareness creation, and research to reduce the conflict.

Environmentalists, including Dr. Madhav Gadgil, a strong advocate for forest and greenery conservation, believe the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972 is flawed. Gadgil argues that the hunting of certain animals should be legalised, allowing people to hunt and consume them. He further stated that even elephants and tigers would not be exempt if their populations exceed the forests' carrying capacity.

“First of all, the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972 is in direct contravention to the Constitution of India. Under WLPA, people are not free to defend themselves against marauding animals as even driving them out of their homes and crop fields needs official permission. Yet the Indian Penal Code, sections 100 and 103 gave everyone the right to private defence of body and property. Wild pigs have on occasion killed people, they regularly trespass on farmers’ properties and rob them of their produce. Elephants do the same, and tigers kill people and rob farmers of their livestock and dogs. Friends in law enforcement and judiciary have told me that WLPA is clearly not valid constitutionally. Put in simple terms, if a tiger is attacking you and your family don’t you have the right to defend and retaliate? These people are not encroaching the forests- they are living there for several centuries. Now the tigers encroach into farmers’ property because there are too many of them in the forest”, Dr Gadgil told The Federal last year when the same issue of HWC came up.

In February 2024, the Kerala Assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging the Union government to amend specific sections of the Wildlife Protection Act to tackle the rising human-animal conflict in the state.

The human-wildlife conflict has emerged as a major political issue in Kerala, with the Congress launching a hill area protest march led by Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan, who is actively meeting victims affected by the crisis. He has found an ally in former MLA PV Anvar, who recently left the ruling LDF to join the AITC and is vocally advocating for the culling of wild animals. The UDF sees this issue as a crucial political plank for the upcoming local body elections later this year. Of Kerala’s nearly 900 village panchayats, around 450 are severely affected by wildlife attacks.

The ruling front faces mounting pressure from the influential Catholic Church, which holds significant sway in Kerala’s hill regions. Bishop of Manathawady, Wayaynad, Mar Jose Porunnedam criticised the government's inaction, stating that their response has been limited to mere words. "Can’t the elected representatives, chosen by the people, change the laws to serve their needs?" he asked, questioning the state's reluctance to find lasting solutions.

The LDF, on the other hand, is treading cautiously, having withdrawn a proposed amendment to the Forest Act in response to growing public opposition and political rivals seizing the opportunity to capitalise on the issue.

Forest Minister AK Saseendran stated that the State has repeatedly requested the Central government’s approval on various demands, including the reclassification of wild boars as “vermin” under the Act. However, these requests have been consistently rejected. Given the circumstances, he said the state government is focusing on local interventions to address the escalating crisis.

A big cat being tranquilised by forest officials.

The Forest Department plans to implement a scheme to provide water and food resources within the forest for wildlife, aiming to mitigate human-wildlife conflict and prevent wild animals from straying into human settlements across Kerala.

“In the first phase of the project, a survey will be conducted to identify paddy fields within the forest, check dams, natural ponds, man-made water bodies, grasslands, open spaces, rivers, and streams” a forest department official told The Federal.

Human-wildlife conflict continues to be a major challenge for the State, posing risks to both human lives and livelihoods. Existing management strategies primarily focus on physical separation or mitigating the issue through domestication, translocation, culling of problematic animals, and compensating affected farmers.

While these approaches remain essential, most are shaped by short-term, location-specific considerations, often merely shifting the conflict rather than resolving it. As long as a long-term solution, including the comprehensive amendment of the Wild Life Protection Act, remains elusive, the problem will be far from over.