State to seek Centre’s approval to declare wild boar as vermin

The state government will seek the permission of the Union government to declare wild boar as vermin, which will legalise the culling of the animal.
For representational purposes (File Photo | EPS)
For representational purposes (File Photo | EPS)

KOCHI:  The state government will seek the permission of the Union government to declare wild boar as vermin, which will legalise the culling of the animal. Forest Minister K Raju said in a Facebook post that the decision has been taken considering the complaints raised by people living in the forest fringes.

There has been a steep increase in the population of wild boars and farmers complain that the animals are raiding their crops which has affected their livelihood. Though the government had given permission to people holding valid gun licence to shoot the animal, this did not help check the menace. In these circumstances, the government is considering the proposal to seek the permission of the Union government to categorise the animal as vermin.

A wild boar
A wild boar

According to the forest minister’s office, the Union government will not give permission to declare an animal as vermin in the entire state. So the department is preparing a list of villages located in the periphery of forests where the farmers are facing trouble from wild boars. The government will be seeking permission to declare the animal as vermin in a specific number of clusters and a detailed list will be submitted to the Centre, said an officer.

According to him, 106 villages in Palakkad district have been listed as affected by wild boar menace followed by Kannur and Malappuram (78 each), Thrissur (53), Kozhikode (46), Kollam and Wayanad (41 each) and Idukki (34).As many as 3,941 cases of wild boar menace have been registered in the state during the past three years and a compensation of Rs 318.44 lakh has been distributed to the affected farmers.

“The forest department has prepared a list of villages where the wild boar menace is high. The State Wildlife Board will forward the proposal to declare wild boar as vermin to the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).

The National Board for Wildlife has to ratify the proposal after which the MoEF will issue an order declaring the animal as vermin in the notified clusters for a limited period,” said technical assistant to the chief wildlife warden B N Anjan Kumar.Presently crow, bat and fox are included in the list of vermins in Kerala. Himachal Pradesh has declared monkeys belonging to the rhesus macaque species as vermin, while Bihar has declared nilgai, an antelope, as vermin. 

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