Kerala launches new intensive mission to mitigate human-wildlife conflict

The Kerala government has launched a 45-day new intensive mission to mitigate human-wildlife conflict in the State, which will be implemented in three phases.

Opening the initiative here on Sunday (August 31, 2025), Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that in the first phase, help desks would be set up in affected grama panchayats in upland areas. Local elected representatives and officials would listen to the suggestions and complaints and try to address their concerns. The issues that cannot be solved at the local level would be forwarded to the district-level deliberations in the second phase in which MLAs and senior officials would be involved. In the third phase, State-level issues would be taken up. The State government would later follow up with the Union government the problems that were beyond its jurisdiction, Mr. Vijayan said. He said that 400 grama panchayats in the State had been affected by the issue. A total of 273 of them were extremely affected and another 73 were heavily hit.

The Chief Minister also launched the operation of primary response teams, which would work as the first respondents during human-wildlife conflicts and coordinate local rescue works with the help of the Forest department. Another mission for agriculture revitalisation too was flagged off.

Meanwhile, Mr. Vijayan claimed that the State government had been taking extensive steps to address human-wildlife conflict. Wild animal attack had been declared a State-specific disaster. Installation of solar fencing around forest boundaries had been going on well. Fencing works on a stretch of 1,954 km had been completed and another 794-km stretch would be covered soon. Along with this, dysfunctional solar fences were being repaired.

Pointing out the destruction of the natural habitat in forests was the main reason forcing animals to stray into human habitats, Mr. Vijayan said that steps were being taken to revive them. Steps were also being taken to eliminate invasive plants. Nine new rapid response teams (RRT) had been formed, taking their total number in the State to 28. Also, satellite RRTs were functioning attached to forest stations. Special projects were being prepared after classifying affected areas into 12 various landscapes.

The Chief Minister also came down on the Centre for rejecting the State’s demands related to the mitigation activities. The request to designate wild boar as vermin had been rejected. Also, the request to bring in changes to Schedules 1 and 2 of the Wildlife Protection Act which deal with the classification of animals as “wild” too had been turned down. Mr. Vijayan said that the guidelines on issuing orders to kill dangerous wild animals were quite complicated.

Presiding over the event, Minister for Forest and Wildlife A.K. Saseendran said that the government would soon bring in a law to address human-wildlife conflict. The draft Bill was ready to be placed in the State Cabinet. Mr. Saseendran said that the government was trying to address the people’s concerns even if it had many limitations.