Opening Reflections Set the Stage at Kerala Human-Wildlife Conflict Conference
The NALSA–KeLSA summit in Thiruvananthapuram began with a moment to remember: Justice MM Sundresh, reflecting on a line he’d seen online “If animals could have a religion, man would be devil” urged everyone to reconsider how unchecked development is escalating confrontations between people and wildlife across Kerala and the country. With that, the atmosphere was set for a gathering centered on empathy, law, and the complicated dance between humans and nature.
Human Responsibility Under Scrutiny at Kerala Human-Wildlife Conflict Conference
Rather than placing blame on wildlife, Justice Sundresh called for a hard look at what human “progress” really means. He pointed out that bulldozing forests and pushing nature aside weren’t just statistics in a report: they’re at the heart of every elephant in a farm or leopard near a village. For real change, Sundresh said, it’s time for policy and society to look beyond the short term and put balance, not just growth, at the center of the debate.
Stories of Coexistence Highlighted at Kerala Human-Wildlife Conflict Conference
Justice BV Nagarathna brought the conversation down to earth with a Mangalore memory: a frightened dog and a wild leopard. Locked together by accident overnight, both emerged unharmed and calm. Her point? When not provoked, animals often surprise us with peaceful instincts and an ability to adapt far better than expected a lesson, perhaps, for us all.
How Stray Dog Rulings Broadened Perspectives at Kerala Human-Wildlife Conflict Conference
Justice Vikram Nath looked back with a smile on his Supreme Court work about stray dogs, noting how such cases put the court in the spotlight among animal lovers and the broader public not always in ways one might expect. These legal questions, he said, connect law and compassion, sometimes reaching far beyond the courtroom or even the country’s borders.
What Government Leaders Brought to the Table at the Kerala Human-Wildlife Conflict Conference
Attorney General R. Venkataramani argued that “one-size-fits-all” isn’t the answer addressing animal conflicts calls for solutions that match each region and situation. Kerala High Court’s Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque, joined by Law Minister P. Rajeev, zeroed in on the people so often left vulnerable: tribal communities and rural residents. For them, said Rajeev, the call was clear wildlife protection must go hand in hand with protecting citizens most at risk.
Law, Empathy, and Future Paths from the Kerala Human-Wildlife Conflict Conference
Taken together, the insights from this gathering were as much about ethics and empathy as about written laws. As the conference drew to a close, it became clear that the law can only take us so far when it comes to sharing space with wildlife. Coexistence, people agreed, needs more than rules it calls for a real shift in how we see our place in nature. You could feel Justice Sundresh’s words hanging in the air, a reminder to everyone there: unless we’re willing to change, it won’t just be animals feeling the consequences it’ll be something vital in our world, too.
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By Karthikeyan Ganesan, a law student from KKC College of Law, reporting on law and technology for Nyayasphere. Karthikeyan always likes to stay updated with current trends and important information regarding the law and cases across the country.