Kerala MLA seeks Supreme Court intervention to tackle human-wildlife conflict

NEW DELHI: Highlighting the recent deaths in Kerala and Tamil Nadu due to wild animal attacks’, Member of Legislative Assembly PV Anvar has approached the Supreme Court seeking to have a plan in place to curb the increased human-wildlife conflict. 

To lessen human-wildlife conflict across states and nationally, the MLA from Kerala's Nilambur constituency seeks to have the Top Court direct the Centre to develop an action plan and technology-based strategy.

The plea moved by Advocate Subhash Chandran KR relied on data placed by the Central government in Parliament to point out that over 2.6 thousand human casualties were reported due to wild animals for a period of 5 years between 2018 and 2023. Each such incident results in violation of the right to life and liberty, the plea argued.

The plea further stated that the Kerala Legislative Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution on February 14 in 2023 urging the Central government to amend prevailing wild life protection laws to prevent human-wildlife conflicts in the state.

The resolution notably called for a Central law to provide Chief Forest Conservators the authority to use lethal force to eradicate wild animals that transgress across residential areas and endanger human life. Additionally, it required that the Centre classify wild boars as vermin. It emphasized the necessity for the Centre to put into practice humane and scientific methods to manage the wildlife population and highlighted the serious effects that wildlife threats have on the rural economy of the state, particularly in areas with forests.

In his plea, the MLA has prayed for a former Supreme Court judge to chair an expert group tasked with creating a plan of action to lessen confrontations between people and animals in the state.

As for relief in the interim, the petition proposes that human health issues with wild animals be resolved by relocation and sterilization rather than by killing the latter. It also urges the use of cutting-edge surveillance tools, such as drones, to track the movements of wild animals and implement scientific measures to keep them out of populated areas. Additionally, the plea also suggests to have for adequate water availability, like artificial ponds, inside the forest for the wild animals.