THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Animal rights activist and BJP leader Maneka Gandhi has come out against the state government’s move to completely eradicate wild boars that have been causing widespread damage to crops and posing a threat to human settlements.
In a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Maneka pointed out that wild boars are prey food for large cats. Once the wild boars are gone, tigers will come out of the forests, prey on village goats and cows and also attack people, she cautioned. She said that many panchayats in Kerala have brought in outside shooters to kill wild boars. Maneka alleged that many of these shooters were wildlife poachers.
“There is nothing to stop them from shooting pangolins, small wild cats, tahrs and macaques. Within a year you will be bereft of all wildlife,” Maneka warned.
The former Union minister also said that wild boar boar is the only animal that eats bracken, a species of large leaf which covers the undergrowth, prevents sunlight from reaching the forest floor and blocks germination. “If you remove the wild boar from the forests, within five years you will lose the entire forest,” she said.
Maneka said that rains will drown Kerala due to depletion of forest cover and the state will not be able to survive landslides, floods and torrents.
Last week, the forest department had released a draft policy document aimed at addressing human - wildlife conflict.
The initiative, “Mission for Agricultural Revival and Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation”, focuses on a one-year action plan. As part of the mission, the government has announced a statewide campaign to completely eradicate wild boars. The programme will be launched by CM Pinarayi Vijayan on August 31.