A Catholic bishop in sou-thern Indian Kerala state has accused its communists-led go-vernment of inaction after 12 people were killed in wild ani-mal attacks in the past two months. “The [Kerala] state government is not doing enough to restrict wild animals in the forest,” said Bishop John Nelli-kunnel of Idukki diocese in the state. Nellikunnel also joined a protest march convened by the All Kerala Catholic Congress, a laity organization of the Syro-Malabar Church, in Idukki district on March 4. Some 22% of this northern district’s esti-mated one million people are Christians, mostly members of the Eastern rite Church based in Kerala. The farmers want the government to protect their lives and livelihoods from rising attacks by wild animals, parti-cularly elephants, which enter human habitats seeking water and food as forest resources dry up in the four-month-long su-mmer starting in February. “A vast majority of the people living in the periphery of the forests are living in fear, and the government should find a permanent solution to this seri-ous problem,” the prelate said. Nellikunnel said the govern-ment has been ignoring the des-perate pleas of the farmers for years on the pretext of protect-ing wildlife and the environ-ment. “The government should ensure no life is lost due to the human-animal conflict anymo-re,” he said. Nellikunnel said if the government failed to act with urgency, “the diocese will join the farmers in more such protests until their safety is ensured.”