India, Sept. 19 -- The CPI(M)-led government in Kerala on Thursday introduced the contentious Wild Life Protection (Kerala Amendment) Bill 2025, a legislation seeking to amend the Wildlife Protection Act (1972), in the state Assembly, a move that environmentalists and animal rights groups have called 'unscientific' and 'legally unsustainable.'

The amendment bill was moved by Kerala forest minister AK Saseendran who argued that the legislation would, to a great extent, mitigate the rising man-animal conflict in the state and help protect both wildlife and the local population. After a brief discussion, it was referred to the subject committee. This is the first time a State in India has moved an amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1...