Wayanad: In Wayanad, where six lives were lost in five months in wild animal attacks, the raging issue of man-animal conflict has been put on the back-burner in the final lap of the campaign. The discussion has centred mostly around political issues.
The farmers' organisations have taken note of this evident shift in campaign. The representatives pointed out that no political parties are sincere in addressing the issue. Farmers’ Relief Forum Wayanad district chairman P M George told Onmanorama that compensation for crop loss as well as cattle lifting has been denied to the majority of farmers by the officials stating one reason or another.
"The situation is so bad that farmers have to protest with the carcasses of cattle on the streets to get the compensation,'' he added. Resentment is also brewing among the farmers over how the state government dealt with protesters. George alleged that the state government has slapped criminal cases against farmers’ leaders for protesting in public demanding compensation for the victims.
The district has witnessed intense protests in the past months following the loss of human lives in wildlife attacks. The political fronts confine the issue to the blame game and refrain from making it a major poll plank. LDF candidate Annie Raja has said the state has limited powers to address the wildlife issue and that the solution lies in amendments to the central act. Forest Minister A K Saseendran has repeatedly said the state government would write to the centre on bringing amendments to the Forest Act.
Moreover, the state government had faced harsh criticism as even the forest Minister A K Saseendran who is also the Minister in charge of the district failed to visit the bereaved families of victims of wild animal attacks. The LDF ministers visited the district only after the visit of Rahul Gandhi who had given a short break for his Bharath Jodo Nyay Yathra. "There was not even a single minister who visited the district to coordinate things properly when serial wildlife attacks took place," said A P Anilkumar MLA, the election committee general convener of Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad Parliament Constituency.
Three of the seven legislative constituencies in Wayanad are severely hit by human-animal conflict while in other regions only a few panchayats are affected. While small-scale farmers are struggling to survive amid the increasing crop raids by wild animals, planters are abandoning the farms as there are no labourers to work in due to fear of wildlife attacks.
During the last 23 years (2000-2023) as many as 45 persons were killed in animal attacks in Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) alone as per the figures in the office of Wayanad Wildlife Warden at Sulthan Bathery. During the last 13 years (2010-2023) 26 persons were killed under WWS limits of which four victims were killed in tiger attacks, another four in snake bites and the rest 18 persons in elephant attacks. During the same period, 106 people were injured in animal attacks in the sanctuary limits. In the same period, more than 50 persons were killed in the district on the fringes of forest divisions other than WWS and private land.
