ALAPPUZHA: A 65-year-old farmer lost his life on Monday after coming into contact with an electrified snare set up to capture wild boars at Chavady in the Thamarakulam grama panchayat. The deceased is Sivankutty K Pillai, from Puthenchanda in Thamarakulam.
According to Nooranad police, the trap was installed illegally by his neighbour, Johnson Cheruvilayil.
“Sivankutty was heading to his farm land, which lies adjacent to Johnson’s, and took a route through Johnson’s property when the incident happened,” said an officer.
Following a postmortem conducted at the Government Medical College Hospital in Alappuzha, the body was released to the family.
The Nooranad police have registered a case and taken Johnson into custody.
“We are currently waiting for the autopsy results before formally recording the arrest,” said police.
Thamarakulam grama panchayat president G Venu said Johnson had earlier refused to participate in a government-backed solar fencing scheme aimed at preventing wildlife intrusion.
“Fourteen farmers have already installed solar fences under the subsidy programme. However, Johnson chose not to join the initiative. Apart from the fencing, we’ve also engaged licensed shooters to control the wild boar menace and around twelve beasts have been culled so far,” Venu noted.
The death follows another from last week in Vazhikkadavu near Nilambur in Malappuram, where a 15-year-old boy died and two others were injured after encountering a similar electric trap set for wild boars.