64 wild elephants killed in human-animal conflicts in a decade, less compared to other states: Experts

According to the data of the Kerala Forest Department, 64 wild elephants died of unnatural death in the last 10 years in the state. The numbers are less than the other states of the country. The Forest department also said that the death of the pregnant elephant was not a case of deliberately harming the animal.

Thiruvananthapuram: As many as 64 wild elephants have died of unnatural causes in the last ten years in the forests of Kerala, according to the official records with the Kerala Forest Department. It is the official data recorded from 2010-2011 through 2019-2020 by the Forest department. Wildlife experts point out that this is a very low number when compared to the unnatural deaths of wild elephants in other States in India.

Forest Department considers poaching, electric shock, road kills, and explosive burst kills as unnatural causes for wild elephant deaths. The most number of such deaths were recorded in the year 2015-2016, in the past ten years. Fourteen wild elephant deaths were recorded in this period under Malayattur Forest Division.

Excluding this, the most number of unnatural elephant deaths, ten in all, due to human-animal conflicts have been recorded in the year 2018-2019. Meanwhile, as many as 772 wild elephants have died of natural causes in the past ten years, the Forest department said. As per a wildlife census conducted in Kerala in the year 2017, there are 5706 elephants in Kerala’s wilds.

Kerala Forest Department has come up with a clarification that the death of a pregnant wild elephant of the Mannarkkad Forest division, near Thiruvizhamkunnu in Palakkad district, was not a case of 'deliberate' harming to the animal.

The elephant seems to have accidentally fallen prey to the cracker-snare meant for wild boars, clarified the Forest Department. The elephant suffered from mangled jaw and mouth as it had accidentally chomped on a firecracker-stuffed fruit, which might have been kept by farmers here as a snare to drive away wild boars attacking farms in the area.

Meanwhile, Surendrakumar, Principle Chief Conservator of Forests and Wildlife, Kerala told ETV Bharat that surveillance has been intensified along all forest borders in the State in the background of the elephant’s tragic death. All forest officials and personnel have been directed to work in full cooperation with the people living along the forest borders in Kerala, Surendrakumar added.