One evening in August last year, Palliyali Musthafa, 57, had gone to the kulikadavu (bathing ghat) near his home in Mukkam, Kozhikode, Kerala, for his routine wash. The retired school principal has bathed on the banks of the Iruvanji river every day for the last 30 years. But that evening, he was attacked in the water by a wild animal, an otter. With a couple of kicks, Musthafa was able to scare away the animal but suffered bite wounds on the soles of his feet. A late-night visit to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital and several injections later, he was sent home with two very sore, bandaged limbs.
Remarkably, the otter attack on Musthafa, which comes across as a bizarre instance of human-wildlife conflict, is a common occurrence in the region. Since 2020, the local media has reported over 100 cases along the banks of the Iruvanji and Chaliyar rivers in Kozhikode.
The conflict has been so rampant that people have stopped entering these rivers. “Nowadays, I see people standing on the steps and using a bucket to bathe. They are scared to get into the water,” says Musthafa. “Many don’t even come to the river anymore. And these are people who lack the most basic amenities and depend on the river for their water.”
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Known as neernaya (which translates to waterdog) in Malayalam, otters are carnivorous mammals that live along rivers and primarily feed on fish and other aquatic species. Of the 13 otter species found globally, India is home to three: Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus), Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) and smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata). Chiefly involved in these conflict interactions are smooth-coated otters, the largest otter species found in India. Listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, smooth-coated otters get their name from their smooth and short fur. They are highly social animals, living in family units consisting of a breeding pair and three or four pups.
In Kerala, the problem is that there is a house on every riverbank, says Peroth Balakrishnan, head of the department of wildlife biology at the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI). “We use our rivers intensively, leaving no space for the animals.” In 2023, KFRI launched a study in collaboration with the Kerala State Forest and Wildlife Department on otters outside protected areas. The goal of the project is to assess local otter populations and mitigate conflict.
Balakrishnan classifies human-otter conflict into two categories: direct attack on humans in the water and conflict in the fisheries sector. With the Kerala government promoting cage fishing and fish farming, every river and lake is now a site for inland fish production. However, the low-cost nets used by farmers have led to otters gaining easy access to their fish. This is the biggest hotspot for conflict in the State.
Tired of the inaction from the forest department and State government, the victims’ collective Ente Swantham Iruvazhinji Koottayma have called for multiple gatherings over the past year to protest the otter menace in Kozhikode. These meetings have called for better compensation for victims and for metal nets to be installed in bathing ghats to prevent otters from coming in contact with humans. “There was even a letter to the Chief Minister from the collective requesting protection of the ghats at the Nava Kerala Sadas (a public outreach programme by the government to identify development projects across constituencies). But nothing has happened,” rues Kodiyathur ward member T.K. Abbobacker Master.
As for the conflict in Kozhikode, Balakrishnan believes that one single animal might be the culprit. The KFRI research team has started preliminary observations along the Iruvanji river, but identifying the animal would require tagging or radio collaring, which will need the direct involvement of the forest department.
Victims struggle to cope
For victims, the consequences of the attack are worse than the attack itself. Otter attack victim Musthafa complains of enduring physical pain and financial demands during treatment. Otter bites can cause rabies. All patients will require periodic doses of anti-rabies vaccine and an immediate dose of rabies immunoglobulin (RIG). RIG neutralises the virus in the saliva on the wound site and is applied locally. This is far from a pleasant experience for the patient, as Musthafa says: “I was given 15 injections in total.”
There is a financial angle to this as well. Even though Musthafa visited the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital (KMCH) for his treatment, which has a ready government supply of both vaccines, he was forced to spend Rs.5,000 to procure RIG from outside.
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People need to be more aware of the need for immediate care after an otter bite, says Biran Roy, a former medical officer at the Anti-Rabies Clinic, KMCH. “If you are bitten by an otter, first, instead of rushing to the hospital, carefully wash the wound with soap for 15 minutes [to reduce chances of infection]. That is most important.”
Conflict and coexistence
Today, the people who share space with these otters believe that the rivers belong to the animals as much as it does to them. But tolerance can wear thin and fast .“I’ve been seeing otters since I was little. Not so much now because I don’t go down to the river as much. I remember seeing them catch fish, sharing it among themselves. They are adorable, harmonious animals. Just that, nowadays, there are these incidents of attacks on humans,” says Abbobacker Master. Musthafa, who has suffered the consequences of an otter attack, is not as forgiving. “With humans not venturing into rivers as much, otters have made the rivers their playground,” he concludes.
Nikhil Sreekandan is the Associate Editor at Nature inFocus, a platform for sharing nature and wildlife photography and stories.