Human casualties caused by elephant attacks have been increasing in Karnataka as 112 people in the state have died of jumbo attacks in the past four years, according to data from the Union Environment Ministry.
Data shared by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a reply to a question in the Upper House recently shows that the total number of human casualties due to elephant attacks has been consistently high during the four years. Across Karnataka, there were 30 fatalities in 2019-20, which decreased to 26 in 2020-21. The number rose to 27 in 2021-22, and to 29 in 2022-23.
Chamarajanagar district witnessed the highest number of casualties over the four years, with 24 fatalities. Other districts that have seen notable casualties include Kodagu, Ramanagara, and Hassan, each experiencing significant loss of lives in the four years.
Radio collars and drones: How Karnataka curbs human-elephant conflict
Meanwhile, to prevent human casualties due to elephant attacks, the Karnataka government has adopted a multi-pronged strategy. Mr. Choubey stated, "The state government has constituted District Elephant Task Force to tackle human-elephant conflict in the Hassan, Chikmangaluru, Mysuru, Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Ramanagara and Bengaluru districts. Each Elephant Task Force has a control room functioning 24/7 at its headquarters."
"Forest Departments are engaging with local communities as animal trackers to monitor the movement of elephants and also to caution local people to avoid human-animal conflict and prevent damage or loss of human life, property, and elephants. The elephants which are habituated for causing damage are radio-collared, and their movement is shared with the local people on a real-time basis to prevent any untoward incidents," he explained.
Highlighting the role of technology, the minister stated, "As per the information received from the Karnataka government, the drones are used during elephant capture operations to uniquely identify the matriarch elephant in the herds/male tuskers for administering the drugs. Drones are also being used by the State Forest Department for elephant driving operations."
Apart from this for long-term mitigation of human-elephant conflict, the State Government has created a new budget head for the construction of railway barricades using scraped rails to prevent the movement of elephants from the forest areas to the human habitation, and the railway barricades have proved to be very effective, according to government.
Area-wise casualties due to elephant attack in Karnataka
| District | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
| Bengaluru Rural | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ramanagara | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Kolar | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Mysuru | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Hassan | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Tumakuru | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chikkamagaluru | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Kodagu | 5 | 8 | 12 | 5 |
| Mangaluru | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Shivamogga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bannerghatta National Park | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Total | 30 | 26 | 27 | 29 |
Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Initiatives working says Forest department
Meanwhile, State Forest Department officials say that they have taken proactive steps to address the situation, which is witnessing a slight dip in elephant attack deaths in the state.
Speaking to The Hindu, a senior Forest Department official said, "Overall trend indicates a slight fluctuation in the number of casualties from year to year, but the total remained relatively consistent over the four years, this shows various initiatives taken by the department has been working well and safeguarding both human lives and wildlife."
