New Delhi, Jul 20 (PTI) Congress leader K C Venugopal on Monday demanded that the Centre amend the Wildlife Protection Act to deal with the situation of human-animal conflict which has claimed over 100 lives in Kerala.
Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Venugopal said there was an alarming rise in human-animal conflicts, especially involving elephants, tigers and wild boars.
“Almost the entire agriculture plantation has been disturbed due to this man-animal conflict. In response, the Kerala Cabinet has declared this situation as a state-level disaster,” he said.
Venugopal said invasion by wild animals in human habitation has claimed around 100 lives and more than 10 fatalities have already been reported this year.
“In Wayanad district alone, four people have been killed within the past three-four months,” he said.
Venugopal said Kerala has been seeking proactive action from the Centre for the past several years.
He said the Kerala Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution seeking amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act to delegate all the powers of the Chief Wildlife Warden to the Chief Conservator of Forests to enable them to take immediate action.
“The Government has to come forward to change the law. That is what I want to say,” Venugopal said.
The Congress leader said the situation in Kerala was not unique and the national data revealed that over 1,500 deaths from elephant attacks and 125 deaths from tiger attacks have been reported between 2019 and 2022.
“We are not against animals. But there is value of human life,” Venugopal said. PTI SKU HIG HIG
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