The New Indian Express ·
The not-so-gentle decline of giants in Keralam
ALAPPUZHA: Wild elephant population in Keralam’s forests is on the decline.
In 2005, as many as 5,135 wild jumbos roamed the state’s forests. By 2023, the number dropped by more than half to 2,386 by 2023. And, as per official records, Keralam lost 1,260 wild elephants between 2011 and July 2026.
The forest department attributed a major portion of the deaths to ‘natural causes’ and ‘natural accidents’. However, wildlife conservationists and animal lovers say the real reason may not always be ‘natural’. According to them, largescale poaching continues in the state and that is the major cause behind the decline in the jumbo population.
The data, obtained under the RTI Act by T S Santhosh, legal representative of the Animal and Nature Ethics Community, showed that natural accidents (345) and natural causes (339) together accounted for more than half of the 1,260 recorded wild elephant deaths. While diseases killed another 159 elephants, 138 died due to infighting. As many as 105 elephants were killed by predators, while 50 died of old age.
“The forest department did not follow scientific methods to establish that the majority of deaths were genuinely caused by natural factors or accidents. It also failed to adhere to the parameters for elephant autopsies prescribed under Project Elephant and in the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC),” Santhosh said. He said of the 1,260 wild elephants that died, 581 were females, while 569 were males. “The gender of the rest was not mentioned,” Santhosh said.
Ten deaths between 2011 and 2026 were officially classified as hunting-related. However, Santhosh said recent incidents indicate that poaching remained a threat despite the forest department’s assertion that it had declined drastically following the killing of notorious poacher Veerappan in 2004.
Referring to the arrest of two persons with elephant tusks at Neriamangalam under the Kothamangalam forest range in the first week of September, Santhosh said it showed poaching networks could still be active in Western Ghats. He also alleged that some accused persons, particularly those from Malayattoor forest ranges, had links to poaching cases in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The RTI data said 58 elephants died of electrocution between 2011 and July 2026. According to The Hostile Activity Watch Kernel database developed by the forest department in collaboration with the Wildlife Trust of India, 50 of these occurred from 2019.
The deaths were reported mainly from Wayanad, Nilambur, Palakkad, Idukki and southern Western Ghats, as well as forest-agricultural interfaces in central Keralam. The pattern highlights the vulnerability of areas where elephant habitats directly border agricultural land and human settlements. On Wednesday too, an elephant death under similar circumstances was reported from Kothamangalam in Ernakulam.
Heritage Animal Task Force secretary V K Venkitachalam has demanded a comprehensive forensic and legal review of all recorded cases involving hunting, explosives, poisoning and other unnatural causes. Wildlife activists and conservationists have also sought an independent investigation into the deaths and demanded that postmortem examinations of elephants be conducted strictly in accordance with Union government norms.