The Man-Animal Conflict

It is now a very common occurence. Every protected area around the globe has stories to tell about the conflict for space and resources between man and animal. The ever growing population of people around forested areas has come in direct confrontation with what the local fauna require. Encroachments and harvesting of forest products has not left too much for the survival of the animals.

An on-going struggle in the southern forests of India, there are confrontations between man and animal almost every day. For years the monkeys in the forests of the Kodagu district (popularly known as Coorg) in Karnataka raided the crops in the villages and plantations around their home ranges. It finally led to the hunting and poisoning of many of these monkeys, such that the population of some species is locally very low. Areas that came under cultivation increased gradually and diminished the natural food supply, and provided an easy larder laden with good food. The same problem occured with wild elephants in the area.

The elephant conflict is extremely common, not only in India, but in Sri Lanka and Africa as well. Electric fences are now built around the cultivated areas to safe guard the crops, but leading instead to injuries to the animals that walk into them, either in search of food, or in the process of moving from one area to another.

The threat to wildlife not only occurs through direct contact with humans, through hunting or poisoning, or structures built to keep them away. A huge danger that hangs over these areas is the growing numbers in domestic cattle. Diseases carried by cattle are easily transmitted to the local wildlife and can spread like wildfire through the wild population wiping out large numbers of wild fauna. Areas in Africa have already fallen victim to this threat.

In the southern Indian state of Karnataka, the areas around Bandipur and Nagarhole Wildlife Sanctuaries, the man-animal conflict has hit the headlines ever so often. Large populations of Indian bison or Gaur (Bos gaurus) were wiped out due to the spread of foot-and-mouth disease through the jungles. Recently, it was feared that rabies would completely wipe out what was left of the gaur population.

Leopards have been a threat to villagers around the Sanjay Gandhi National Park near Mumbai, about a dozen people were known to have been mauled. It has been estimated that more than 45 people have been mauled or killed by leopards across the country. A documentary by Sir David Attenborough showed a female leopard regularly visiting a village in Rajasthan at night to hunt for easy prey.

A paragraph from an article published in the Hindu in 2004 gives some idea as to the extent of the problem:
"In the densely forested Madhya Pradesh, on an average 30-35 cases of loss of human life, 700-800 injuries to people and 250-300 cases of killing of domestic animals and cattle are reported every year. Acute drought is also an important reason for wild animals wandering into the farmlands in Tamil Nadu. In the past 5 years, 100 people were killed and 52 seriously injured and 781 hectares of crop damaged. An amount of Rs. 61.50 lakhs was paid as compensation to the affected. Studies show that the changing land use pattern in the peripheries of protected areas due to demographic changes is affecting wildlife habitats. These pressures influence the movement pattern, habitat utilisation and behaviour leading to regular increase in the race for survival between man and animals."

During a 4 month stay at the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary during 2000-2001, I personally saw at least a few dozen cases of man-animal conflict around the forests and estates in the area. A gaur was killed using a home-made explosive kept neatly hidden amongst the foliage. The tribals in the area were blamed, though it could also have been the estate labor looking for an easy and cheap sourse of meat. Elephants were a constant threat, raiding bananas and small garden patches. The ghat roads criss-crossing through the hills have resulted in a multitude of road kills, primarily of primate species, civets and deer.

Entries on another blog lists out encounters with elephants across Africa and Asia. A comprehensive research article by Elisa Distefano on various case studies is an eye-opener, and can be found here. It discusses the threat to widlife from various aspects as well as lists the threat to some of the world's most endangered mammals, such as the snow leopard, Asiatic lion, Sumatran tiger and the red colobus monkey.

There doesn't seem to be any viable solution to this problem. The areas around the globe that have this problem are categorized as the Third World countries. Economics plays a very strong role in any decision that is taken. No government is able to take a stand and ask people to leave the wildlife alone. In places where the community has been asked to protect the local wildlife in a way that the people may financially benefit, it has reduced the conflict to a large extent. But the same solution does not work in every place. Changing crop patterns to keep animals away was an experiment that worked for a while, but was in no way a permenant solution. This will be a long hard struggle, where the local people, the wildlife protectors and the governments are going to be at loggerheads with each other to figure what can be done. Sadly there is no Dr. Dolittle to understand what it would be like for the animals or ask them what it is that they would want.

Technorati tags: man-animal conflict, crop raids, leopard kills, Indian bison, demographic changes, human-elephant conflict