The ‘Virtual Wall’ initiative by Forest Department to curb man-animal conflict in Chandrapur district has started giving results. After implementing the Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based ‘Virtual Wall’ project in 2023 in Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), the ‘AI Wall’ gave whopping 9,267 alerts of wild animals that entered in the range of the wall in last two years. It means, wild animals like tiger, leopard and sloth bear tried to enter 9,267 times in the human settlements situated in the buffer area of TATR.

 

After getting these alerts, the Forest Department and villagers became cautious that helped to reduce the conflict in the tiger reserve drastically. As per the data provided by the Forest Department, between 2019 and 2023, there were eight human deaths took place in 16 villages of TATR buffer area due to tiger attack. Whereas, after installing ‘AI Wall’ in these 16 villages since 2023, only one human death was reported. Of these warnings, 4,588 alerts were of tiger, 2,367 of leopard and 2,322 of sloth bear. It shows that majority of man-animal conflict takes place due to tigers whereas leopards and sloth bears also intrude into villages for various reasons.

 

“In March 2023, the first smart ‘Virtual Wall’, which is actually an AI-camera was installed at Sitarampeth village in the Moharli buffer range of the TATR. Till June 2025, it was replicated with a total of 76 cameras in 16 villages in the buffer area. Till June 30, 2025, this system generated 9,267 alerts,” Dr Prabhunath Shukla, Field Director, TATR, told ‘The Hitavada’. There has been a significant decrease in human-wildlife conflicts in the areas where this AI-based virtual wall system has been implemented.

 

The incidents of human deaths in wild animal attack have fallen drastically and the incidents of minor injuries in the conflict have also reduced to 1 from 16, mentioned the Field Director. The ‘AI Walls’ were installed in buffer villages, including Sitarampeth, Katwan, Padzari, Bhadurna-I, Maroda-I, Ratnapur, Kukadheti, Wasera, Mohabadi, Khatera, Wayegaon, Chak Nimbada, Shioni, Belaragaon, Vihirgaon, and Madnapur. According to Forest data, Sitarampeth witnessed the highest 2,269 alerts, including 1,018 tiger alerts, 434 leopard alerts and 817 sloth bear alerts in last two years. Similarly, Bhadurna-I village received the highest 1,454 alerts of tiger in last couple of years. Bhadurna-I is second in the list with 1,723 overall alerts. Most of the villages have six AI-cameras whereas Katwan and Madnapur have eight AI-cameras to alert the system in case of wild animals intruding into village areas.