Lok Sabha Question No. 3190 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-12
Subject: Death caused by Wild Animals
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Deepak Baij

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3190 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.07.2019

## Death caused by Wild Animals

## 3190.  SHRI DEEPAK BAIJ:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE  CHANGE  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether the Ministry has any information regarding death of many citizens in the country due to violent attacks by stray and wild animals;
- (b) if so, the details of such deaths of people reported during the last three years; and
- (c) the steps being taken by the Government to control stray animal?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

- a & b The  management  of  forest  and  wildlife  is  the  responsibility  of  concerned  State Governments and incidence of animal-human conflicts are reported in various parts of the country from time to time. However as per information received from various state  governments,  the  details  of  people  lost  their  lives  due  to  elephant  and  tiger attacks, are given at Annexure-I & II .
- c The major steps taken by the Government to avoid such incidents are as follows:
- i. A scheme to  Augment  Fodder  &  Water  in  Protected  Areas/Forest  Areas  for augmenting the availability of forage and water for wild herbivores in Protected Areas  (PAs)/Forests  where  poor  habitat  is  known  as  the  cause  of  significant human-wildlife  conflict  has  been  initiated  by  the  Ministry  under  CAMPA funds.
- ii. Ministry  through  its  Centrally  Sponsored  Schemes  (CSS)  namely  'Project Tiger',  'Project  Elephant'  and  'Integrated  Development  of  Wildlife  Habitats

(IDWH)' provides funds to States and UTs for carrying various activities for habitat improvement works namely restoration of natural water bodies, creation of  artificial  ponds,  waterholes,  augmenting  food/fodder  sources  at  various places within Protected Areas to minimize the human animal conflict.

- iii. A  network  of  Protected Areas  namely  viz., National Park, Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves covering important wildlife habitat have been created all over the country under the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 to conserve wild animals and their habitats.
- iv. Construction/erecting  of  physical  barriers,  such  as  barbed  wire  fence,  solar powered electric fence, bio-fencing using cactus, boundary wall etc. to prevent the entry of wild animals into crop field.
- v. The  Ministry  has  approved  a  project  for  undertaking  'Immuno-contraceptive measures' for population management of wild animals.
- vi. The Ministry has issued guidelines in context of human-wildlife conflict to the Chief Wildlife Wardens of all the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations dated 24 th December, 2014 and 1 st June, 2015.
- vii. The  National  Tiger  Conservation  Authority  has  issued  the  following  two Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to minimize conflict with humans:-
6.  SOP to deal  with  'emergency  arising  due  to  straying  of  tigers  in  human dominated landscapes'.
7.  SOP to deal with 'tiger depredation on livestock'.
- viii. To  mitigate  wildlife  conflict  along  the  linear  infrastructures  like  rail  tracks, roads/highways  and  power  transmission  lines  passing  through  the  Protected Areas and other wildlife rich areas, Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife has recommended that all linear infrastructure development Agencies, shall  submit  wild  animals  passage  plan  based  on  the  WII  Guideline  'EcoFriendly  Measures  to  Mitigate  Impacts  of  linear  infrastructure  on  Wildlife'. These guideline suggest for modification in the designs of the linear infrastructures  by  way  of  providing  eco-friendly  structure  which  will  ensure safe movement of wildlife across these linear infrastructures.
- ix. Periodic awareness campaigns to sensitize guide and advise the general public on man-animal  conflict, including dissemination of information through various forms of media.

Annexure-I

HUMAN DEATHS CAUSED BY ELEPHANTS DURING LAST THREE YEARS

| S. No.   | Zones        | State             | 2016-17   | 2017-18   |   2018-19 (Up to 31.03.2019) |
|----------|--------------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|------------------------------|
| 1        | SZ Andhra    | Pradesh           | 2         | 6         |                            7 |
| 2        | NE           | Arunachal Pradesh | NR        | NR        |                            0 |
| 3        | NE           | Assam             | 91        | 72        |                           84 |
| 4        | ER           | Chhattisgarh      | 74        | 74        |                           56 |
| 5        | ER           | Jharkhand         | 59        | 84        |                           87 |
| 6        | SZ           | Karnataka         | 49        | 22        |                           12 |
| 7        | SZ Kerala    |                   | 33        | 15        |                           27 |
| 8        | SZ           | Maharashtra 0     |           | 0         |                            1 |
| 9        | NE Meghalaya | 5                 |           | 7         |                            3 |
| 10       | NE           | Nagaland          | 1         | 0         |                            1 |
| 11       | ER           | Odisha            | 66        | 105       |                           72 |
| 12       | SZ           | Tamil Nadu        | 43        | 49        |                           47 |
| 13       | NE           | Tripura           | 2         | 0         |                            0 |
| 14       | NZ           | Uttar Pradesh     | 3         | 1         |                            0 |
| 15       | NZ           | Uttarakhand       | 4         | 5         |                            3 |
| 16       | NE           | West Bengal       | 84        | 66        |                           52 |
| Total    |              |                   | 516       | 506       |                          452 |

## Annexure -II

## THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES BY TIGER DURING THE LAST THREE YEARS

| S. No.          | State             |   2016 |   2017 |   2018 |
|-----------------|-------------------|--------|--------|--------|
| 1               | Andhra Pradesh    |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 2               | Arunachal Pradesh |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 3               | Assam             |      1 |      1 |      1 |
| 4               | Bihar             |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 5               | Chhattisgarh      |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 6               | Jharkhand         |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 7               | Karnataka         |      0 |      0 |      1 |
| 8               | Kerala            |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 9               | Madhya Pradesh    |     10 |      5 |      2 |
| 10              | Maharashtra       |     19 |      7 |      0 |
| 11              | Mizoram           |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 12              | Odisha            |      0 |      0 |      2 |
| 13              | Rajasthan         |      0 |      0 |      2 |
| 14              | Tamil Nadu        |      1 |      0 |      0 |
| 15              | Telangana         |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 16              | Uttar Pradesh     |     15 |     19 |      5 |
| 17              | Uttarakhand       |      2 |      0 |      1 |
| 18              | West Bengal       |     14 |     12 |     15 |
| Year wise total | Year wise total   |     62 |     44 |     29 |

****