Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 3 augusT 2017

Human-wildlife conflict in India: 1 human killed every day

By NIRMALA GEORGE
Associated Press
NEW DELHI (AP) — A dead-
ly conflict is underway
between India’s grow-
ing masses and its wildlife,
confined to ever-shrinking
forests and grasslands, with
data showing that about
one person has been killed
every day for the past three
years by roaming tigers or
rampaging elephants.
Statistics released this
week by India’s Environ-
ment Ministry count a total
of 1,144 people killed be-
tween April 2014 and May
of this year.
That includes 426 human
deaths in fiscal 2014-15,
and 446 killed the following
year.
The ministry released only
a partial count for 2016-17
of 259 killed by elephants
up to February of this year,
along with 27 killed by ti-
gers through May.
“Conflict is already one of
the biggest conservation
challenges,” said Belinda In this Feb. 9, 2017 file photo, wild elephants chase back Indian villagers who were trying to chase them away from their Misamari
Wright, founder of the village on the outskirts of Gauhati, Assam state, India.
Wildlife Protection Society Associated Press
of India,
based in New Delhi. “In In- tlements is often seen as Wildlife experts say these N.V.K. Ashraf, a veterinar- tigers has gradually in-
dia it is particularly acute economic development. conflicts have increased ian at the Wildlife Trust of In- creased since the 1970s,
because of the high hu- But for some who are living as elephants increasingly dia, said the high death toll when India launched a
man population.” on the edge of wildlife bor- find their usual corridors was likely because large nationwide tiger conserva-
That population of 1.3 bil- ders, this development can blocked by highways, rail- numbers of people are de- tion program that carved
lion is still growing, and as come at a high cost. way tracks and factories. pendent on forests for their out sanctuaries in national
it does it is increasingly en- Of the 1,052 lives claimed “The shrinking of good qual- livelihood. parks and made it a crime
croaching into the coun- by elephants in the last ity habitats and access of “People going deep into to kill a big cat.
try’s traditional wild spaces three years, many had the animals to movement the forests in search of food Though methods for count-
and animal sanctuaries, simply been in the way corridors are absolutely crit- or forest produce run the ing tigers have changed,
where people compete when the pachyderms ical for India’s conservation risk of crossing the path census evidence suggests
with wildlife for food and wandered out of jungles efforts and the future of its of a tiger or a herd of ele- the number has increased
other resources. in search of vegetation iconic mammals,” Wright phants,” he said. from about 1,800 then to
The growth of human set- and raided farmers’ crops. said. The human conflict with 2,226 in 2014.q