Though the cases of human conflict with Dogs & Snakes is more common, the data on Dog & Snake Bite cases is not accurately captured. There is a huge discrepancy between the number of deaths due to Snake bite as reported by the NCRB and the Ministry of Health. In 2021, while NCRB reported more than 10,000 such deaths, the health ministry’s NHP reported fewer than 1000 deaths. Human-wildlife conflict refers to situations where the interests of humans and wildlife intersect, often leading to negative outcomes for both. While it commonly brings to mind clashes involving large mammals like elephants or predators like tigers, it extends beyond these scenarios. Even seemingly innocuous animals like pigeons in urban areas can contribute to these conflicts. For instance, pigeons in cities can cause problems like spreading diseases, damaging buildings with their droppings, and creating noise, while human practices like feeding them, and noise from construction and traffic can result in alterations to the natural behaviour of pigeons. In the previous story, we looked at the occurrences of human fatalities at the national level and across different states due to tiger and elephant encounters with humans in the last decade, as reported by the Environment Ministry. The story focused on the attacks by two flagship species, that have dedicated conservation projects. In this story, we look at the cases of dog and snake bites, and deaths due to snake bites. While encounters with big mammals receive heightened attention due to their ecological significance, requiring comprehensive, long-term conservation strategies, encounters with dogs and snakes are more widespread, and not confined to specific habitats. Moreover, attacks by dogs and snakes pose immediate localized health concerns. These incidents call for treating injuries, managing bites, or local animal control. They require prompt medical attention and control measures for diseases like rabies. 307 Deaths due to Rabies were reported in 2022 Reports of stray dog attacks on humans are increasingly common across the country in recent times. Numerous reports show the increasing cases of stray dogs having killed or led to the deaths of people, especially among the vulnerable sections. According to a parliament response from July 2023, a total of 307 people died due to rabies infection in the country in 2022. Most of these were reported from Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, and Kerala. Since the data on the number of deaths due to dog attacks is not available, we look at the number of dog bite cases reported in the country. Data on dog and snake bites are collated by the Health Ministry The data for this story has been taken from Dataful. The data source for the numbers on snake bites as well as dog bites is the Ministry of Health. The data on dog bites is reported to the Ministry by States under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP)- Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP). Under this portal, data is collected from major hospitals both in the public and private sectors, and Infectious Disease hospitals under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP). Similarly, the data for snake bites has been compiled from the annual National Health Profile reports as updated by States every month. 2.78 crore cases of dog bites reported in six years between 2018 and 2023 Between 2018 and 2023, nearly 2.78 crore cases of dog bite cases were reported in the country. In 2018 alone, more than 75.66 lakh cases were reported which declined over the years to 21.8 lakh cases in 2022. However, it has again increased by 26% in 2023. Throughout the years, the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Bihar together accounted for an average of 60% of the cases each year. Fewer cases of dog attacks have been reported in recent years Upon normalizing the dog bites data same with population estimates provided in the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) report for the period between 2018 and 2022, the number of cases of dog bites per lakh population has dropped from 572 in 2018 to 158 in 2022. All the states/UTs except Nagaland recorded more than 100 cases per lakh population in 2018 while Telangana recorded more than 2000 cases and Tamil Nadu recorded more than 1000 cases in 2018. However, in 2022, 12 states/UTs reported less than 100 cases each per lakh population. Among large states, Tamil Nadu had the most cases with 475 per lakh population followed by Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra with more than 300 cases each. All the states/UTs reported a decline in cases in 2022 compared to the year 2018. Fewer cases have been reported in recent years though the exact reasons for such a decrease are not known.