A 70-member team of crack shooters from the Kerala Police, tranquilising experts from the Forest Department, forest guards, and a “Kumki” elephant specially summoned from Mysore are on the trail of a tiger designated as a man-eater in Kerala’s Wayanad district. Local residents in Wayanad allege that last week, the tiger killed a person who had entered the reserve forests to collect forest produce, and his half-eaten body was subsequently recovered.
In late November, people discovered the carcass of a leopard on the outskirts of Wayanad forests. Additionally, another leopard was killed in the Kannur district by officials entrusted with protecting it. According to the government’s account, the big cat died when it was tranquilised as part of a mission to rescue it from a well into which it had accidentally fallen.
Within two days, the carcass of a three-and-a-half-year-old leopard was found in the Kozhikode district, reportedly “murdered” by porcupines, according to forest officials. The carcass bore numerous quills, supporting the officials’ claims that the leopard fell victim to a territorial dispute between big cats and unruly porcupines. These incidents have earned Kerala the grim nickname “graveyard of wild animals”.
Although the Wayanad district forest officer, a woman, issued orders to tranquilise the big cat, the locals remained dissatisfied. They demonstrated with the victim’s lifeless body, demanding that the tiger be euthanised.
Adding insult to injury, TV news channels are reporting the sighting of a tiger in Valparai, a village on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. Valparai, once abundant with reserve forests and a habitat for tigers, leopards, elephants, boars, as well as smaller animals like rabbits, jackals, foxes, and deer, has undergone significant changes. “The reserve forests gave way to tea estates, and as the number of plantations increased, the homes of animals shrank. Hence, the sighting of tigers and leopards is treated as ‘Breaking News,’ as if a major mishap has occurred,” said Sudheer Damodaran, an ecologist based in Thrissur who monitors events in Valparai. He noted that massive encroachment into reserve forests has led to wild animals becoming strangers in their own land.
Pius, a retired assistant conservator of forests, stated that there has been no considerable increase in the number of leopards, tigers, and other wild animals in the forests of Kerala. “Many of them, displaced from their habitats, are forced to enter new settlements, resulting in man-animal clashes. Tigers, cheetahs, and leopards are shy animals and typically keep away from humans. They attack humans only when they become old and infirm,” said Pius, drawing on his three decades of experience dealing with wild animals.
Earlier this year, there was commotion in the Idukki district of Kerala regarding the ‘attack’ by a wild tusker nicknamed Ari Komban, known for stealing rice (Ari) from ration shops. Elephants, too, are compelled to leave their restricted dwelling places due to a lack of water and food. ‘The encroachment of forest lands by vested interests has resulted in the shrinking of space for animals. We must find a solution to save these animals,’ said C R Neelakantan, an engineer turned environmentalist. Unfortunately, tigers, leopards, and elephants do not appear on the voters’ list, and that could be the reason for their suffering, according to Damodaran.
