Key Issues:

• India's wildlife heritage is endangered by escalating human-animal conflict driven by habitat loss and encroachment.

Key Animals:

• Elephants:

• •  

• India has ~30,000 wild Asian elephants.
• Over 500 humans and 100 elephants die annually in conflicts.
• Causes of death: poaching, poisoning, electrocution, train collisions.

• Tigers:

• •  

• India holds 75% of the world's wild tiger population.
• 125 humans killed in reserves between 2019-2021.
• Maharashtra accounts for nearly half of these deaths (61).

Causes

• Habitat loss and fragmentation: mining, quarrying, development, encroachment.

• Retaliatory killings by humans.

• Noise and light disturbances from human activities.

Focus: Assam

• Highest elephant population density in India.

• 48 of India's 150 elephant corridors (a 40% increase since 2010).

• Human-tiger conflict is less common in this region.

Conflict Mitigation Efforts

• Community-based guarding and warning systems.

• Solar-powered fences.

• Lemon tree cultivation (natural deterrent).

• Beehive fencing.

• Haati Mitra initiative (elephant movement monitoring).

 

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