The number of human-wildlife conflict compensation claims has seen a significant rise over the last 15 years, with the most increase occurring from 2021 onwards.
According to data from the State Department for Wildlife, incidents hovered around 4,000 annually for much of the early 2000s, before spiking sharply to over 14,000 cases in 2023.
While there was a slight dip in 2024, the trend points to escalating encounters between communities and wildlife, raising questions about the effectiveness of current mitigation and compensation measures.
