Mangaluru : Dakshina Kannada, which has a large population of wild animals, except big cats, has reported minimum man-animal conflicts on its forest fringes in the past two decades.
As per the data available, seven persons were killed while five persons were injured in such conflicts in the past 18 years. Two of them became permanently disabled while nearly 18 cattle were killed.
Compared to neighbouring districts like Hassan, Kodagu and Chikkamagaluru, the man-animal conflict is not a big challenge for forest department in Dakshina Kannada, said V Karikalan, deputy conservator of forests, Dakshina Kannada.
“Though there are a large number of wild animals in forests, the conflict between them and man is less compared to other districts. The last death due to wild animals was reported in 2017-18. The deaths were caused by elephant and bison attack. Majority of the deaths were reported from Sullia and Puttur taluk, which are close to reserve forests,” said Karikalan.
On March 13, 2017, a person was killed in Jalsoor village in Sullia. A few months later, Savithri, 31, was killed after the bike she was riding pillion hit a deer near Balya reserve forest. The incident took place early morning when a group of Sambar deer were crossing the national highway and the bike hit one of them. The victim and her husband were going to hospital. The national highway passes through Kuntur Padavu and Ballya which is declared as reserve forests. The area is frequented by wild animals which cross the highway quite often.
In the same year, a man identified as Joseph Hilary was injured in an attack by a wild boar.
All the families were given compensation. However, the forest department is yet to hand over the compensation in the death of railway maintenance worker from Tamil Nadu, who was trampled and killed by elephants in Kombaru reserve forest under Subrahmanya forest division in March 2018.
“The compensation hasn’t been handed over to the victim’s family since no one has come to claim the same,” said Karikalan. However, nearly 764 cases of crop damage by wild animals, especially by elephants, were reported in the past 18 years.