Protests erupt in Wayanad over man-animal conflicts

Kochi: Public protests erupted in Pulpally town in Kerala’s Wayanad district on Saturday after a 52-year-old ecotourism guide was killed in an elephant attack near the Kuruvadweep tourist centre, the second human fatality in such an attack in the district within a week.

What began as a funeral procession with the mortal remains of VP Pau, who was killed in an attack by a herd of wild elephants on Friday morning, quickly turned into an angry demonstration on the streets of Pulpally as locals demanded sustainable solutions to the human-animal conflict.

When police tried to persuade the protesters to hand over Paul’s body for final rites at his home in Pakkam, 3km from Pulpally town, the mob resisted, resulting in scuffles. He was laid to rest on Saturday evening.

The mob also gheraoed a forest department vehicle and laid a wreath on it to send the message that the department failed in protecting the lives of people from animal attacks. Some proceeded to deflate tyres of the vehicle and a few others placed the remains of a cow killed by a tiger the day before to underline the seriousness of the issue. Several priests and nuns from Christian congregations participated in the protests.

On February 10 a wild elephant walked into the premises of a house and killed Ajeesh, 45, of Mananthavady.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan convened a meeting in capital Thiruvananthapuram to evaluate the situation in Wayanad, which was attended by chief secretary V Venu and top police and forest officials.

Some important decisions were taken at the meeting, such as adding 250 cameras to trace entry of wild animals into human settlements, strengthening coordination between forest, revenue and police departments, increasing presence of forest and police officials in sensitive areas and stepping up awareness among the people.

Around 25 forest officials from Karnataka have joined the rapid response team to tranquilise and capture a wild elephant that killed a man on February 10, a statement from the chief minister’s office said. The elephant is yet to be captured.

Vijayan also directed to hold a meeting between ministers of revenue, forest and local body administration in the presence of local representatives and officials at the Wayanad collectorate.

Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi will arrive in the constituency on Saturday evening to purportedly hold talks and resolve the issue of man-animal conflict, party leader Jairam Ramesh wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Local MLA T Siddique of the Congress demanded the resignation of forest minister and district-in-charge AK Saseendran for allegedly failing to find a solution to the issue. “Additionally, a high level team led by the chief minister must come to Wayanad and speak to the people and soothe their fears and nerves,” he said.

Saseendran, who has been under fire for the failure of the forest department to catch the wild elephant for nearly a week, told reporters that he will inquire if there was a delay in the treatment of Paul as was claimed by his family.

“We tried to airlift him initially, but when we encountered some problems, it was decided to take him by road to the Kozhikode Medical College hospital,” he said. “The family has raised a complaint that there were some delays, which we will inquire.”

The state government announced compensation of ₹10 lakh to the family of Paul and will consider additional demands, including taking care of educational expenses of his daughter and a permanent job to his kin.