33 Man and Wildlife Conflicts

Prof. Daizy Batish

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  • OVERVIEW
  • Introduction
  • Causes of human-wildlife conflict Examples and Case studies
  • Possible remedies

INTRODUCTION

Earth, the only planet proven to support life (although Mars has also been claimed to do so, but not yet convincingly proven) is endowed with a wide variety of flora and fauna. Right from the miniscule algae to the higher plants further to the more complex human beings, the variety of life forms on the planet never ceases to amaze anyone. In spite of such diversity, these life forms are interlinked with one another and as such, dependent on each other for survival. For instance, certain carnivorous species like the felines (tiger, panther, and so on) feed on other animals like the deer or the boars for survival. Even a large number of human beings devour delicious delicacies prepared from other animals such as the poultry, lamb, fish and others. As such, an alteration in the number of one species of living form, may, nay does, directly and / or indirectly have a bearing on the survival of other species too.

A new concept termed ‘man and wildlife conflict’ also variously referred to as ‘human and wildlife conflict’. What exactly does this concept signify? The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has officially defined human and wildlife conflict as ‘any interaction between humans and wildlife that results in negative impacts on human social, economic or cultural life, on the conservation of wildlife populations, or on the environment’. The basic idea is very simple to understand. Generally, humans try not come in contact with wildlife in the places they dwell, i.e. human settlements are as far away from wildlife as possible. This serves to prevent either species from harming one another. However, due to an arising need, such as explosion of the population and exploration of food or other resources, humans may invade the forest area and carry out measures such as deforestation, thus disturbing the plant and animal wildlife of that region. This not only harms the jungle flora and fauna and consequently the environment, but in turn, also exposes the human beings to certain perils such as human casualties, crop damage and loss of subsequent economy, loss of property or livestock, and even zoonoses (diseases can be transmitted from animals to humans). Hence, the term ‘çonflict’ has been preferred to the more subtle ‘interaction’. Unsurprisingly, man-wildlife conflict has now arisen as a matter of global concern, and hence; a subject of extensive research.

Wild animals can attack humans and such attacks can be broadly classified as – territorial, defensive or predatory.

Territorial attack – When wild animals attack other animals or humans that invade or trespass their territory

Defensive attack – When a wild animal perceives danger from a human and attacks him/her in order to protect itself

Predatory attack – When a wild animal attacks humans as a prey for food. This is usually seen among tigers that become too old or injured and hence, cannot prey on other animals that are too fast or too swift for it. Thus, they begin to prey on humans, which are easier to hunt than other animals. Such tigers are termed as ‘man-eaters’.

CAUSES OF HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT –

1. Increase in Human population-

The expansion of urban and rural parts, also increase in requirements of people as a result of increasing population has led to many settlements coming up near the peripheries of protected areas, encroaching the forest areas and using it for their own benefit. Moreover, land is also required for agricultural and horticultural purposes. This is first and most important cause giving rise to conflict between man and wildlife.

2. Encroachment of forest lands –

An increase in human population obviously leads to increase in the requirements of the population. The construction of hydroelectric power plants as well clearing for forests for mining and industries also contributes to encroachment of forest areas. Such human activities can fragment large animal habitats into smaller patches, threatening their existence and increasing their conflict with the humans.

3. Livestock grazing –

Livestock grazing owned by humans in forest areas can affect wildlife in multiple ways. Firstly, the livestock compete with the wild herbivores for palatable plant species and water, thus creating a scarcity for the indigenous herbivore population. Secondly, livestock mainly feed on the young saplings, affecting the regeneration of plant and tree species. Moreover, the presence of livestock attracts the carnivores, thus exposing them to retaliatory trapping and killing by humans so as to protect the livestock. Lastly, an increased contact between livestock and wildlife can aid in the spread of communicable diseases from domestic to wild animals and vice versa. Scientific studies in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve indicate that the population of wild ungulates declines in areas where the grazing pressures are high. Over grazing also harms the environment indirectly by increasing the rate of soil erosion.

4. Road kills –

With increase in industrial development, road construction has increased exponentially. The traffic density in India is estimated to increase at the rate of ten percent annually. Some of the roads developed to handle this traffic pass through forest areas. Apart from fragmenting the natural habitat of the wildlife, driving at high speed combined with poor eyesight or poor reflexes on the part of the animal contribute to a high incidence of road accidents. The common victims of such accidents are the nocturnal animals such as mouse deer, civet cats, black-naped hares, leopards and sambars. There have been several reports of tigers, elephant calves or elephants, chitals, dholes, sloth bears, wolves, blackbucks and other large mammals killed in numerous road accidents.

Death of an animal in a road accident may indirectly impact the ecosystem immensely. Death of herbivores may deplete the carnivorous animals of food. Death of a female tiger may starve her cubs. Thus, various precautionary measures, as discussed later, need to be implemented to reduce the incidence of such road accidents.

EFFECTS OF CONFLICTS

  • Mortality and injuries to human beings
  • Mortality and injuries to endangered or threatened animals Loss of livestock
  • Crop damage
  • Loss of property (Buildings, vehicles, equipments etc.)

EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDIES

1.    Elephants –

The dwindling nature of elephant habitats, both Asian and African elephants, has served as one of the greatest lessons regarding the dangers of human-animal conflict. Besides poaching, this has contributed to a significant decline in the elephant numbers in the recent past. The increasing food demands of an ever growing population has forced humans to expand the land for agriculture, which often encroaches upon the existing elephant habitats. The elephants are therefore, squeezed into smaller habitats, which then affects both the parties involved in the conflict.

Lesser availability of free space for movement and feeding leads to elephants frequently raiding adjacent crop lands. Besides endangering human lives due to elephant stampede, the subsequent damage to crops causes huge financial losses to the farmers, thus affecting both domestic and international agro businesses. The economically vulnerable farmers are the worst sufferers. For instance, the damage caused by elephants to oil palm plantations and timber estates in Riau, Indonesia, is estimated to be approximately US $ 105 million per year (WWF factsheet 2006).

2. Great apes –

Similar to elephants, expansion of human habitations are taking a great toll on the natural habitats of our ancestors – the apes.

Around Kibale National Park in Uganda, chimpanzees have been reported to raid crops such as banana, maize, and sugar cane on average 75 times a year. As a protective response, around 15% of the farmers in this region lay out traps, snares or poisons to kill the crop-raiders. Similarly, the rapid expansion of oil palm plantations in Sabah (Borneo), Malaysia, in the 1980s and 1990s saw many orangutans being displaced from their natural habitat and killed for raiding plantations and eating young oil palm fronds. Mountain gorillas that have lost their natural fear of humans due to gorilla-based tourism also raid crops, with some groups foraging principally on cultivated land for weeks or even months. Thus, fatal interactions between humans and monkeys is greatly on the rise, contributing to substantial damage to both sides.

3. The felines –

The vast majority of big cat species particularly the tigers and the snow leopards have been the victims of human expansion and encroachment activities. The number of tigers globally has declined drastically from 100,000 to around 7,000 over a period of 100 years. Similarly, the habitat of the Central Asian leopard has declined from several million hectares to less than 8,00,000 hectares the last century. These statistics represent a matter of grave concern that they actually present.

A significant reason for the decline in the wild cat population has been human animal conflict that has increased significantly over the past few decades. The feeding of the wild cats on livestock reared near their habitat leads to their capture and killing in retaliation by humans. A survey in northern India indicated that over a 14-month period, an average household lost six animals, valued at almost US$300, with snow leopards responsible for 55 per cent of these kills. Between 1996 and 2002, eight snow leopards were reportedly killed in one northern Indian village alone.

4. Greater one-horned rhinoceros

The greater one-horned rhinoceros has steadily increased in number from 600 in the year 1975 to about 24000 as of the present across India and Nepal. Nevertheless, as a flip side to this, destruction of crops and farm produce by the rhinos has also increased, leading to retaliatory actions by the farmers. This increased number of the animals posing a significant threat to their existence due to conflicts.

5. Bears

The spectacled bear is native ot the Andean mountains of Venezuela, Peru, Ecaudor, Bolivia, Colombia and other countries of Latin America. Increased deforestation in the Andean mountains has exposed their population to human contact. Moreover, these forests have been replaced with maize fields which is a particularly favoured food of these bears. As a result, around 200 bears are killed each year by the farmers as a means to protect their farm produce and economy. This has threatened the bear species leading to a possibility of extinction.

Another example can be cited of brown bears that were abundantly found in most of the Northern hemisphere once up on a time. Today, however, they are restricted to the Carpathian Mountains in the Central and Eastern Europe. This is primarily due to the rapid economic development in these regions. Brown bears tend to attack livestock, beehives, orchards and occasionally food storehouses and dustbins, leading to retaliatory actions by the local farmers. Though the number of brown bears has significantly increased over the past 100 years as a result of re-introduction and conservation programmes, the increased human-bear conflict does place their population at risk for reduction due to human precautionary measures.

6. Wolves

Similar to brown bears, the wolverine population in Europe has increased steadily over the past few decades due to conservation measures and these animals are found in significant numbers in the European Alps and the Italian Apennine mountains. However, these wolves are usually blamed by the local farmers for the loss of their livestock, though this is primarily caused by dogs and not wolves; leading to their shooting in retaliation. Hunters too hunt down the wolves, so as to prevent competition for deer and other prey animals. This exposes the wolves to the risk of death in the hands of humans.

POSSIBLE REMEDIES

The solution to human wildlife conflict cannot be carried out at an individual level; it necessitates the co-operation and co-ordination between different stakeholders and co-ordinated and regulated measures that should be implemented on a large scale.

The following measures can be attempted –

1. Improvement of habitat –

The Ministry of Environment should shoulder the responsibility of improving the natural habitats for the wild animals. Studies should be conducted to indentify the ideal or the best possible habitat for a particular animal and its living in that particular habitat should be encouraged. For instance, a recently conducted study (yet to be published) has identified the Palamau region in Jharkhand, India as a suitable habitat for the Asian elephants. The availability of food and water in these natural habitats should be augmented so that the animal excursion into human settlements can be reduced.

2. Barriers between humans and wildlife –

Physical barriers such as boundary walls, solar fences or trenches can be constructed to minimize animal movements into human settlements. Regulations should be in place to restrict the human habitation and farmlands to within a certain area of forest lands so that direct contact between man and wildlife can be avoided as much as possible.

3. Training programmes –

The forest officers, police and the local population needs to be trained to avoid human-wildlife conflict. They should realize the importance of not extending their settlements or agricultural land deep into the forests and should avoid over grazing of livestock in the forest areas. Moreover, they should also be trained to avoid animal excursions into their hands in a way that least harms the wild animal, or in other words, avoidance of retaliatory killing or injuring the animal. Local co-operation is imperative to reduce the incidence of human-wildlife conflict. A list of ‘Do’s’and ‘Don’ts’from the Ministry shall be helpful with strict punishments to deter any violations of these regulations.

4. Technical support –

Infrastructure and necessary medical facilities should be provided in case any wild animal or human gets injured in case of a conflict. Hospitals should be established, both human and veterinary to attend to these. Measures should also be taken to rehabilitate the injured animals in rescue centres and release them back into their natural habitats.

5. Regulations for traffic

Construction of roads within forests or natural habitats for wild animals should be avoided as much as possible. If any such road is constructed, measures should be adopted to their save movement by constructing natural corridors. Speed regulations should be imposed for drivers driving through the forest roads, especially during night time and violators should be strictly punished. Speed calming measures such as speed breakers, road humps, rumble strips or chicanes can also be constructed at appropriate locations.

 

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REFERENCES