Tag: wildlife

Human-wildlife conflict has Climate Change as an emerging Factor

In 2015, the largest marine heat wave in the U.S. hit the Pacific Coast. Whales moved closer to shore to find prey, but they came across something dangerous—they were getting entangled in crab fishing gear.

Crab fishermen and women wouldn’t usually be out at that time of year. But the change in climate was also causing an algal bloom, toxic to crabs. So the fisheries delayed their timing by several months—the same time migrating whales were on the coast.


“It was this double-whammy,” said Briana Abrahms, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology and Center for Ecosystems Sentinels at the University of Washington.

This was one of the topics Abrahms was studying when she realized there hadn’t been much published research on how climate change is exacerbating human-wildlife conflicts. Looking at scientific literature and government reports, she came across only a few dozen. And many of those were either buried in obscure journals or just anecdotal mentions.


In a paper published in Science, she delved deeper into this area and wrote a call to action for managers and researchers to focus on this issue.Abrahms was working on another project at the same time as her whale research that was on completely different species in a completely different area, but seemed to have some similarities when it came to climate and conflict.

In Botswana, a government report cited some of the highest numbers of human-wild conflicts on record, mostly large carnivores preying on livestock. That happened to be during an extreme drought in 2018. “It struck me how different these systems were, but the story was the same,” she said. “I felt like it was really important to tell this story and draw attention since these climate changes and conflicts are likely to increase in the future.”



As part of her paper, Abrahms applauded a new, proactive risk assessment developed by the state of California to help managers figure out when and where to close fisheries under different climate and ocean conditions. “If you understand what the underlying driver is, in this case climate is a factor in these dynamics, you can better prepare to make management decisions and reduce conflict—or avoid it in the first place,” she said.


Abrahms also pushes for more research in these areas, especially where there are geographic and taxonomic gaps. “We definitely need more research and also need to be synthesizing research across everything already out there to understand how much we should be more worried about long-term changes,” she said.

Wildlife crimes rise by 100% in a year in Kerala

KOCHI: Wildlife-related crimes have increased dramatically in the state and there has been a 100% rise in the number of cases registered in 2020 compared to the previous year.

According to data obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the state registered 303 cases in 2020 as against 151 in 2019 and 61 in 2018. As many as 156 cases were recorded in the state in 2021 till August 26 this year.


Most cases pertained to poaching of endangered animals and reptiles, hunting for meat and illegal trading and possession of horns, tusks, nails, and teeth. Removing tusks or nails and collecting meat from animals that died naturally is also an offence. More than 80% of the total cases registered each year are in connection with poaching of wild animals other than wild boars that cause extensive damage to standing crops.

Besides wild boars, sambar deer, spotted deer, porcupines, monitor lizards, pythons, civets and turtles are among those that fall prey to poaching. Occasionally, elephants, leopard, tigers and wild gaurs are also hunted down, say the data.


“Since movements were restricted during the Covid period, people living adjacent to forests got more opportunities to engage in poaching. Poachers have also improved their intelligence gathering. The presence of wild animals also increased in the fringe areas, leading to the rise in poaching incidents,” said a member of a flying squad of the forest department.


People also lay electric wires to electrocute the animals, besides using poisoning too.
Besides killing the animals, depriving them of food is also an offence, as the data show. Among the registered cases, two are in connection with freeing chickens from the mouth of a python forcefully.

Don’t let Covid eclipse the tiger

India’s efforts towards conservation of tigers has been very successful. According to recent reports, India now has 51 tiger reserves consisting of at least 3,000 tigers. More and more Indians flock towards safari parks to marvel at these wondrous creatures and other forms of wildlife. Nature lovers are waiting impatiently to finally be amidst the beautiful places on Earth that they call their home.

On June 7, however, the National Tiger Conservation Authority(NTCA), sent out a circular to the chief wildlife wardens of all the tiger range states. The recent case of a lioness, suspected to have died of Covid-19 infection, got the authorities on alert. There were warnings of high rates of transmission of this virus from affected human beings to captive wild animals. Hence, the authorities stated that tiger reserves needed to be closed for tourism activities until further orders. The intentions of the NTCA was understandable, however, we need to address this issue in a wider perspective.

Tiger reserves in Karnataka which normally remain open throughout the year, were closed for almost two months in the brutal second wave. They are currently gearing up to reopen as soon as possible. Government and civil society organizations have used the lockdown time to treat, educate, test and wherever possible, to vaccinate the communities around the park-forest officials, staff or tribal communities.

As for the tourists, the sad truth is that safari holidays are mainly for the urban and elite people who can afford it, and it is safe to assume that they have been vaccinated. This will further more reduce the risk of infection. Also, the risk of infection hasn’t been determined yet, and the risk of death due to infection is not even under speculation.

Let us assume we open up the wildlife parks for the public. Most of the tourists are going to travel by jeeps, and hence be at a safe distance from all the animals in that region, and that too in an open space, which makes it safer. Tourists are going to be wearing masks at all times and practice social distancing just like normal times. Hence, forest authorities should really contemplate the decision to keep the parks shut.

The wildlife tourism is an important aspect of generation of revenue in the states, and is a source of income for many people. Lakhs of livelihoods around these reserves are in peril, and the impact of a prolonged lockdown will be very severe. Hence a cost-benefit analysis needs to be carried out to ensure the decisions taken by the forest authorities are also in favor of the people depending upon wildlife tourism as a way to earn their daily bread.

Lakhs of tribal people live close to or inside these parks and have the right to collect forest produce. It is not possible to exclude them from the forests that they have helped conserve.  Instead of imposing a blanket ban on all wildlife reserves, situation specific steps must be taken to tackle this situation.

New non-invasive and bio-safe protocols must be implemented for wildlife surveillance and species monitoring. Early warning systems must be kept in place to immediately pin point the area of danger for the animals or point of contact between humans and animals or the animals and the outside world. There are many environmental organizations that, when given the chance, will surely be eager to help out the authorities and the government in these endeavors.