Whispers of the Wild: A Study of Empathy-Driven Strategies for Human–Wildlife Coexistence in Kerala, India

This study seeks to understand the element of empathy in the efforts to mitigate human–wildlife conflicts in the south Indian state of Kerala. The study presumes that empathy is an important channelizing force that can efficiently bring solutions to conflicts because the mitigation strategies which are already in force are crafted by the human actors alone, while such strategies pay no proportional inclusion to the important stakeholder in the conflict: wild animals. We use a multifaceted strategy that integrates policy analysis, ethnographic research, and field visits to look into how conflict resolution and conservation strategies are negotiated, sustained and promoted by the emotional elements in the conflict zones. Human ability to think from the side of animals is also an important criterion which needs to be the one of the benchmarks in the mitigation strategies. The study found that the mitigation strategies lack a scientific outlook, as the current approach tends to be knee-jerk reactions to sudden outbursts of emotional expressions in conflict zones. The study recommends that Kerala require an empathetic mitigation strategy that pays equal attention to wild animals.