Whom to blame for the death of pregnant elephant in Kerala?

News reports of the death of an elephant in the Palakkad district of Kerala reportedly after consuming a pineapple filled with explosives have gone viral and have caused massive outrage across the country. The initial reports had claimed that the elephant was deliberately fed with pineapple which led to greater revulsion and anger across the country.

But according to experts, the elephant most likely might have consumed the pineapple on its own which was meant to be used as a snare to scare away or kill wild boars which caused extensive damage to plantation crops.

Whatever is the mode of events, the death of the pregnant elephant in this tragic manner is highly unfortunate and it highlights the threat posed to India's environment and biodiversity due to increasing incidents of man-animal conflict.

A number of elephants get killed every year in India as a result of such man-animal conflict incidents and this is a direct result of increasing commercial pressure on the habitat of the elephant.
The need to expand our urban areas and agricultural activities at the need to promote industrial and economic activities have ended up destroying sensitive habitat and forests. As a result, for migratory animals such as elephants, their traditional ranges have been occupied and their migratory corridors have been blocked due to human activities.
In fact, it is not just elephants that have been pushed in conflict with humans due to habitat destruction and habitat fragmentation, but even several other high-value species and threatened species face the same threat. As the contact of wild animals with humans increases, it increases the threat faced by animals itself.

Despite the threat posed by habitat destruction and unregulated economic activities to natural ranges and corridors of wild animals, there has been no attempt made by the government to mitigate the impact of economic development and industrialization.

The government has failed to adopt a sign based policy to prevent incidents of man-animal conflicts by adopting measures such as the creation of a soft landscape, the provision of migratory passages especially in and around protected areas while approving new industrial projects and new economic activities.

There is a lack of scientific culture in India which inspires the government's conservation efforts.  Environmental policies and regulations of the government have been designed to favor economic development and commercial activities even at the cost of destroying forests and natural habitats of wild animals.
 Take for example how even during the lockdown that has been imposed due to the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry of environment, the national board for wildlife, and the expert appraisal committee manage to clear a number of disruptive projects in protected areas despite these projects being opposed by environmental groups.

Such rampant destruction of natural habitats of the wild animals reduces their ranges and makes the feeding ground inaccessible to them.
This reduction in their natural habitat and the shortage of the food that they face pushes the animals to venture into human habitat areas such as nearby villages, agricultural fields, plantations, etc.

When such incidents of man-animal conflict increases, the cost is borne both by the animals and as well as by the local villagers. For example, the entry of wild elephants and wild boars into agricultural fields and plantations could cause extensive damage to the farmers. The entry of carnivorous animals such as tigers could threaten human lives and cattle in nearby villages.

 So, locals who have suffered such losses as a result of man-animal conflict, they tend to hold a grudge against animals and to prevent the reoccurrence of such incidents, they tend to use a number of inhuman and violent techniques to keep the animals away.
Every year, hundreds of hundreds of elephants, tigers, leopards, and other high-value species and threatened species are killed across the country as a result of such preventive techniques.

Suggestions to reduce such incidents of man-animal conflicts 

1.) Revisit the recommendations of the 'Madhav Gadgil Committee'.

Ministry of environment and forests had set up the western ghats ecology expert panel under the chairmanship of Madhav Gadgil. This committee had submitted its recommendations in 2011 and in order to conserve the ecology and the biodiversity of western ghats, the Madhav Gadgil committee had recommended the zonification of the entire stretch of the western ghats into 3 sensitive Eco-zones and inside each zone, human activities were supposed to be strictly regulated with varying degrees of enforcement. These restrictions and regulations would apply for industrial activities, mining activities, construction activities, agriculture, etc.

But all the state governments that are part of the western ghats had opposed the recommendations of the Madhav Gadgil Committee due to pressure from the industry and as well as from the local villages.

2.) The government should provide timely and adequate compensation to the victims of man-animal conflict incidents.

When the victims who have suffered losses due to man-animal conflicts, if they are compensated adequately and if they are compensated in time, it will reduce the chances of them adopting such inhuman violent methods to keep the animals away.

It is this culture of commercial exploitation of our forests and our natural resources that have led to the death of this elephant in Kerala and it could change only if we adopt a cultural shift towards science-based conservation.