At Kerala wildlife sanctuary, buffaloes create trouble for animals

In most man-animal conflict areas, wild animals are a threat to domestic ones. At Chimmini, it’s the other way around

If you think of a forest region where wild animals roam freely, the peripheral human settlement areas and the animals domesticated there are always under threat from wild animal attack. In Thrissur district’s Chimmini wildlife sanctuary, domestic buffaloes are posing a threat to the wild elephant and gaur population.

Forest department officials fear that this could lead to an increase in man-animal conflicts in the area and are hence trying to take measures to evacuate the buffaloes.

According to the officials, over the years, farmers in the region have gotten used to letting their buffaloes roam and graze freely in the surrounding area of the Chimmini dam. Some of the buffaloes were caught for slaughtering, but that was within the required limit.

However, the buffalo population has increased over the years; now there are said to be around a hundred buffaloes in the region—an area which used to be the grazing ground for elephants and gaurs within the sanctuary—who have also turned ferocious.

The warden of the Peechi Wildlife Division, P M Prabhu, told DH that recently it seemed that the buffalo population was going to prevent the elephants and gaurs from grazing in the region. This could even prompt the wild animals, mainly elephants, to enter nearby human settlements in search of food and water. He suggested that some of the recent instances of man-animal conflicts in the nearby Palappilly region could be because of the buffaloes.

According to Prabhu, the buffaloes can spread foot and mouth disease to the ungulates. Hence, the forest department was taking steps to remove the buffaloes from the region.

He said that the farmers, who had left their buffaloes free to graze in the region, were identified and asked to take their buffaloes away. The wildlife warden also said that in case the farmers did not cooperate, the forest department would explore options to remove the buffaloes.