Why most wildlife attacks in Kerala are snake related

Four persons were killed in 48-hour elephant attacks in Kerala earlier this month, including one in Wayanad. In Kannur, an elephant killed a tribal couple on 23 Feb.

Villages in rural Kerala are in a tizzy over the spate of wildlife attacks that have claimed many lives recently. Government data reveals that 66 per cent of deaths from wildlife attacks in Kerala in the last few years have been caused by snakebites outside the forest. Here’s a look at the situation and its causes.

Devastation of natural environment

Although snakes are classified as wildlife, they often strike outside the forest too, and sometimes even kill people. The researchers of the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), who studied snakebite in Kerala, said that due to urbanization and fragmentation of ancestral lands, many ‘kavus’ or sacred groves have vanished and have brought reptiles and humans closer.

Snakes are wild animals. Over the past few years, the daily temperature in Kerala has been increasing before summer even begins. Snakes have cold blood so they need the environment to regulate their body temperature. This is one of the reasons why snakes are more comfortable in homes now, said KFRI experts. 16, 453 snakes were saved from human habitats and sent back to the forest by the forest department in 2024. These reptiles were protected by the greenery inside kavus.

Snakebite deaths by district (2010-2020) - 192 of 729 - Palakkad is the hottest part of Kerala Palakkad is a predominantly agricultural belt with a large population living in villages on farms.

How Kerala is responding to the threat of snake bites

Man-animal conflict reduction measures have focused on wild boars, tigers and elephants, but the government has also taken some measures for snakes.

The state launched the Snake Awareness and Rescue Protection (SARPA) app in 2020. About 2, 500 people are trained as mission volunteers. They’re spread across the state and respond to public alerts to rescue snakes.

Kerala has launched a programme called Snake Envenomation Zero Mortality Kerala to achieve zero snake bite deaths in the state in the next five years, the state budget for the next fiscal year announced on Tuesday. The state has also increased the compensation for snakebite deaths from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 4 lakh.