Kerala cabinet approves draft bill allowing killing of dangerous wild animals

The Kerala cabinet has on Saturday approved a draft bill to amend the Wildlife (Protection) Act, aiming to mitigate the increasing human-wildlife conflicts in the state.

A special cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday approved the draft Bill empowering the Chief Wildlife Warden to order the immediate killing of any wild animal that attacks and injures a person after entering a residential area.

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The cabinet’s approval of the Kerala Forest (Amendment) Bill, 2025, gives major relief to the people in the state’s human-animal conflict-prone regions, as it empowers the Chief Wildlife Warden to order the immediate killing of any wild animal that enters an inhabited area and attacks or injures a person.

The Bill proposes amendments to the existing forest laws and is expected to be presented in the upcoming legislative Assembly session. The draft Forest Amendment Bill, 2025, amending the Kerala Forest Act, 1961, also has provisions for the sale of sandalwood trees on private land through the Forest Department outlets, and the price of the timber will be made available to the farmer.

Law Minister P Rajeev recently indicated that the state government, acting on legal advice, is considering the introduction of an amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act to empower the Chief Wildlife Warden to authorise any person to kill or capture a wild animal that causes serious injury to human beings or poses a threat to a public place. The government is bringing in the new legislation as the current legislative framework was inadequate to protect human lives during emergencies.

State Forest Minister A K Saseendran said the provisions in the Bill help to avoid impractical and time-consuming procedures in the central law and in the standard operating procedures issued by the Union government. Legal experts, however, hold the view that bringing in an amendment to a central legislation will not be an easy task for the state government.