Abstract

A study was carried out in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and adjacent areas in Kerala during 1994-1997 to collect information on crop raiding in relation to animal abundance and distribution. The characteristic feature of the study area is the largenumber of settlements scattered in the form of a mosaic where cultivation is practiced. A population of more than 25, 000 people live in and around the forest. Dry deciduous forests dominate in Southern region, moist deciduous in Central and teak plantations in Northern region. All these regions have plantations of teak. Household survey was conducted in 2174 houses to collect information on forest dependence, social and cultural activities and people's attitudes towards the management of forest and wildlife. Mullakuruman, Kattunaikkan, Adiyan, Urali and Kurichiyans are the main tribal communities in 69 enclosures. About 48 of the people within the enclosure have title deeds for their lands. Ninety nine percentage of the settlers collect construction materials form the forest. The people of Wayanad are predominantly agriculturist and cultivation is one of the major sources of income. Crop damage is a severe problems in most of the settlements. Elephants and wildboar topped among the most damaging ones. Cattle lifting were more in enclosures (68.50) than periphery and away from the forest. About 73 of the human death reported were inside the forest, 36 near the forest and 9 on roads. Only 27.27 of the affected were compensated. NWFP is the main sourceof income for the tribals. The dependence of the tribals on forest for cattle grazing was comparatively higher. Nearly 75 of the people in the enclosure, 66.56 in periphery and 91.81 along the transect are of the opinion that forest and wildlife should be protected without affecting the people. Information on group size, composition and strucuture of animals were collected through direct observation. Herd size of elephants was found to ranged from 1 to 26 in Southern region and 1 to 30 in Northern region. The size of gaur ranged from 1 to 26 in Southern region and 1 to 30 in Northern region. Herds size of sambar deer ranged from 1 to 11 in Southern, Northern regions and 1 to 13 in Central region. Herd size of spotted deer ranged from 1 to 26 in Southern region, 1 to 38 in Northern and 1 to 12 in the Central region. Economic loss due to crop damage was quantified and converted into per unit area. Elephants were responsible for most of the damage in the study area. Paddy was the most affected crop. Trenches was most effective compared to any other protection methods