Conflicts surge as wildlife rebounds and buffers shrink

It is a sad thing,” a senior officer said, reflecting on how the forest department “lost an opportunity” to work with the people. He was referring to a misleading statement issued by the Bhadravati division after a problem leopard was killed on November 28 at Byrapura, a village under its jurisdiction.

A press note that followed the execution claimed that the leopard was shot only after it tried to attack a forest personnel. According to sources, the staff surrounded the lantana bush where the big cat was hiding and shot the cornered animal before it could react. The leopard had earlier mauled a migrant worker’s five-year-old child and had repeatedly been involved in conflict situations. It also displayed tell-tale signs of a disease and behaved abnormally, including an unusual proximity to humans.

Here was a chance for the department to engage with local communities and conservationists and show them why eliminating an individual was necessary for the survival of the species. Instead, the forest department chose to work in secrecy and deemed public engagement irrelevant. This mindset, a carryover from a colonial mindset, has allowed the department to work in the shadows and cite efficiency for shortcuts to avoid procedure and accountability. 

Over the decades, the rigid measures that created protected areas, along with subsequent strict enforcement, have helped the department claim “success.” As per official estimates, Karnataka’s elephant population has gone up from 3,579 in 1983 to 6,395 in 2023, putting the state on top in the country in terms of elephant population. The tiger population in the state increased from 290 in 2008 to 393 last year. A 2024 assessment by the Tiger Cell also pointed to the improvement in the herbivore population in the protected areas.

However, improved habitat does not mean its enlargement. This challenge posed by the increase in the density of tigers was best illustrated in the case of the rescue of four tiger cubs from a sugarcane plantation in Hunsur’s Gowdanakatte. “Till now, we have seen leopards showing high adaptability to human habitats but a tigress choosing the safety of a sugarcane field shows that the territories that she searched in the forest were not safe. It is an unusual behaviour for a tigress,” an official said. 

Rising wildlife populations have not been matched by an expansion of protected areas. Instead, the edges of these reserves are seeing increasing agricultural and commercial activity, pushing animals to adapt to new situations. Communities living around forests are paying the price for this conservation success every day.

The fortress model of conservation — where people were plucked from forests to create inviolate spaces — has failed many of the thousands of families still living in enclosures (villages located within protected areas).

Long waiting lists due to lack of funds, delays in providing basic amenities and inadequate protection for families who chose to stay back have only worsened the problem. In October, two people awaiting rehabilitation in Kudremukh National Park (KNP) were trampled to death by an elephant. On the other hand, the adivasis of Nagarahole have been demanding their right to live in forests for three decades but the government has failed to resolve their problems, despite a high court order. 

“We have 297 families who have applied for voluntary rehabilitation. The government has failed to mobilise funds. Supporting them would create a win-win situation for both people and wildlife,” said Veeresh G, a Shivamogga-based conservationist.

While habitat loss and corridor degradation are often cited as major reasons for the rising conflicts, the department has paid little attention to the changing agricultural landscape around forests. 

Areas that once acted as buffers between the forest and the village have turned into agricultural lands that stay green even in summer, thanks to borewells.

The high density of the animal population is another concern that is not much discussed about. A wildlife wing officer who inspected the Bandipur-Nagarahole landscape last month said he was struck by the changes. “For decades, researchers told us that the territorial range of tigers is about 10 sq km. But the thermal drone images revealed adults thriving in one sq km territory or even lesser. Things have changed in the animal world and we need to understand with better studies,” he said. 

For nearly two decades, prey scarcity was blamed for tigers and leopards venturing into villages while shortage of fodder and water was cited as a reason for elephants rampaging through human habitats. But thanks to tiger conservation funds, the department has dug water holes and filled them using solar pumps even in searing summers, boosting the numbers of ungulates and mammals, which in turn have multiplied the carnivore population correspondingly. 

Population pressure

Human population growth has also compounded the pressure. For instance, Mysuru district’s population went up from 18.27 lakh in 1981 to 30.01 lakh in 2011 with the projections putting the current numbers at around 35 lakh. HD Kote, Hunsur and Periyapatna alone have recorded 50% to 60% growth in population. This, in turn, resulted in the rapid expansion of area under cultivation, from 17,995 hectare (1981) to 51,731 hectare (2023-24), as recorded by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics. The expansion of borewell irrigation pushed the district’s sugarcane and banana cultivation far beyond the traditional Cauvery belt, creating irresistible attractions for elephants.

Karnataka has nearly two lakh acres of forest land under encroachment. A lack of political will means much of it may never be evicted as the Forest Department is often compelled to approach the issue from a humanitarian perspective. This was evident when a tiger killed a farmer from Mullur in Saragur taluk. The land he was cultivating had been officially identified as encroached, still the department provided him ex gratia compensation.

Lure for better foods

However, by focusing solely on encroachments and habitat degradation, we risk overlooking other major issues. For instance, conservationists note that while fodder shortages can be a trigger, the lure of better food sources in sugarcane, banana and maize fields plays a significant role in drawing elephants out of protected areas. As a result, around 160 elephants in Kodagu and 90 to 100 in Hassan have now become permanent residents of coffee plantations.

A conservationist noted that the widespread cultivation of sugarcane and banana has contributed to changes in elephant behaviour, and that most conflict situations now involve humans and elephants. Of the 701 people killed in human–wildlife conflicts in Karnataka between 2010–11 and November 2025, about 479 (68.33%) were attributed to encounters with elephants. Leopards accounted for a distant second with 41 deaths, followed by bears (40), tigers (39), wild boar (34) and other species.

This trajectory was foretold by the Elephant Task Force (ETF) set up by the High Court of Karnataka. The 2012 ETF report helped the forest department initiate a discussion on the wildlife corridors but little progress followed. Even a decade after the high court ordered (WP 14089/2008) the government to take up ameliorative actions, the government and the forest departments are nowhere near implementation of the same. The court directions included notification of elephant corridors, reviewing clearances given to projects in elephant habitats and corridors, restricting non-forest activities in such areas and reviewing use of land on the periphery of the habitats.

In fact, the government has violated its commitment before the high court. The proliferation of concrete structures at Dubare camp, a major elephant corridor to northern areas of Cauvery, is a striking example. Although commercialisation began with the government’s own Jungle Lodges and Resorts in 2000-01 in Dubare, satellite images show the river-widening area, once an elephant crossing zone, remained a green pasture until 2013. The subsequent proliferation of structures coincided with the growing elephant conflicts in Virajpet taluk. The ETF report specifically warned that the mini-hydel projects in the area posed a major threat to wildlife, yet the department came close to endorsing a new project last year.

The state forest department and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change are custodians of forests, managing a public resource whose value has become increasingly evident in the era of visible climate change. However, both have facilitated investments worth thousands of crores of rupees in projects that have destroyed the ecology in the name of “development’.

Animal adaptability

Another conservationist and member of the ETF said the past two decades have been marked by the government and the forest department distancing themselves from the public, while also failing to understand animal behaviour. An issue that has not received enough attention by both the department and the conservationists was the high adaptability of the animals. 

“This aspect of mimetic evolution has been almost ignored. There are elephants habituated to raiding crops and taking refuge in private plantations. It has become a new normal for them. Some leopards have begun surviving by preying on stray dogs. Cubs raised by such leopards may never feel out of place in a city,” said the ETF member. Tigers, too, may be on the cusp of similar behavioural shifts. “In the two years it has, a tiger will teach her cubs the skill to survive in human habitation,” he warned. 

Except for leopards, wildlife populations have thrived in protected areas, showing their importance for conservation. Yet, more core areas continue to be diverted for power projects under the pretext of ‘site-specific’ necessity. “Whether it is pumped-storage projects such as Sharavathi and Varahi in the Western Ghats or linear developments like road widening, clearances are being granted without proper assessment of their ecological impact,” he said.

Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar B Khandre acknowledged the need for reforms. “There is a need to understand the impact of a project,” he said. He noted that a committee of senior officers has been set up to assess the carrying capacity of the Western Ghats. “The assessment will act as a guide in understanding the impact of new proposals,” he said.

Experts say that without a comprehensive corridor plan, no amount of tracking elephants will help. The government is sitting on a proposal that has identified 53 key elephant corridors and recommended measures to protect them. At the same time, the government is losing grazing lands (gomala) to encroachment or development works, destroying the last pieces of buffer areas.

The minister agreed that habitat and corridor protection is key. “We have farmers lining up to sell thousands of acres to the government. They cannot take the conflict anymore. So, we need long-term strategies. From having enough staff to training them scientifically and understanding the animal behaviour, we have several challenges to face. We need a thorough understanding of the habitats so that core areas with less animals can be used as sink” he said.

He added that measures to prevent tragedies in the short term will be put in place. “We are starting with a command centre where the latest technology will be utilised to track elephant movement,” he said. 

While an average of 30 people have been killed in conflict with elephants every year since 2010-11, the department has recorded an average of 15 unnatural deaths of elephants during the same years. There is a broad agreement among politicians, bureaucrats and conservationists about the need for scientific management of wildlife populations, in view of the limitations of the habitat. South Africa’s immunocontraception, a vaccine that will be effective up to three years, has emerged as a promising measure to check elephant population. Yet, there remains a hesitation about discussing such measures openly as this may bring up uncomfortable questions.

“We need to engage with the scientific community and the public in a transparent way to understand the current scenario and tackle the emerging challenges to conservation efforts. I am sure there will be criticism. Someone may ask us to remove the invasive species before harking on to population management. We should be open to ideas and explore them transparently. All this can start when we start acknowledging our mistakes and admitting our limitations,” a senior officer said.