Nearly 2,04,442 acres of forest land has been encroached upon in Karnataka, according to Forest Minister Ramanath Rai. The State has a total forest area of 43,35,647 hectares. According to the government circular dated June 28, 2016, the government had issued instructions to the Forest Department to stop evicting encroachers in cases where the total encroached area was less than three acres.
Replying to JD(S) MLA C.N. Balakrishna, Mr. Rai said Karnataka had a total of 6,072 elephants and 406 tigers as per the census conducted in 2012 (for elephants) and in 2014 (for tigers). He said no other wild animals, barring tigers and elephants, had been surveyed in the last few years. He said 47 persons had lost their lives from wild animal attacks in 2015-16, while the number stood at 53 in 2014-15, and 68 in 2013-14.
