Cheetahs’ Release Was A Curtain Call For The Wild lifers Of The Country

By D N Singh The very initiation of the efforts at releasing the Cheetahs in the Indian forests is ample of an evidence to say that, now it is time to step up the conservation of the species in a highly critical state of extinction. A wake up call for the people and the country’s wildlife experts Amidst the government's increased focus on conservation of wildlife, instances of human-animal conflict have resulted in loss of life of both humans and animals over the years. As per the recent information from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, between 2018-19 and 2020-21, a total of 29 tigers were killed by poachers while the deaths of 197 tigers were under scrutiny. A large number of elephants also died due to various reasons including electrocution and others. The data said that a total of 222 elephants died by electrocution across the country, 45 in train collisions, 29 were killed by poachers and 11 by poisoning during the same period. Odisha Tops List on Human Deaths On the other side, a large number of humans also became victims of the conflict leading to their deaths. Elephants killed 1,579 humans in three years - 585 in 2019-20, 461 in 2020-21, and 533 in 2021-22. So far as the states are concerned, Odisha recorded the highest number of these deaths at 322, followed by Jharkhand at 291, West Bengal at 240, Assam at 229, Chhattisgarh at 183 and Tamil Nadu at 152. Odisha Tops In Elephant Deaths Also So far as the deaths of elephants are concerned, out of the 222 elephant deaths caused by electrocution, Odisha recorded 41, Tamil Nadu 34 and Assam 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 the highest in Meghalaya (12 out of 29) while poisoning deaths were the highest in Assam (9 out of 11, including 8 in 2018-19 alone). The Ministry in a Parliament reply on July 25 said that assessments of human-wildlife conflicts indicate that their main causes include habitat loss, growth in the population of wild animals, changing cropping patterns that attract wild animals to farmlands, movement of wild animals from forest areas 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 and others. The Parliament standing committee on Environment and Forests in its March, 2022 report took note of the human-animal conflict observing that the cases of man-animal conflict are on the rise and it still remains an area of concern. "As such, there is an urgent need to minimize the instances of man-animal conflict that was resulting in both human and animal killings," it said. The Committee recommended that the Ministry should take proactive steps to sustainably manage and minimise man-animal conflict in a balanced manner, whereby the wildlife habitat is improved.  About the Author: DN Singh is a Bhubaneswar-based senior journalist. DISCLAIMER This is the personal opinion of the author. The views expressed in this write-up have nothing to do with the www.prameyanews.com.