THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid the hullabaloo on wild boars causing havoc in farm land on forest fringes, wildlife biologist Surendra Varma says that its culling is not practical as they mean a lot to the ecology. While Forest Minister A K Saseendran’s request to declare wild boar as vermin was rejected by his Union counterpart Bhupender Yadav on Monday, Surendra Varma says that it is the only vermin which “ploughs” the forest land, proving its crucial role in maintaining the ecology.
He warns that the culling of a particular species of animals will have far-reaching consequences upsetting the link between them and their ecosystem. “Without wild boars, the forest land cannot be ploughed. They don’t uproot everything and don’t spoil the natural ecosystem. Wild boar’s natural behaviour is to dig up the soil to find food, especially tubers,” Palakkadborn Surendra Varma told TNIE. Wildlife experts often address wild boar as landscape engineers or ecosystem engineers.
An avid elephantologist, Surendra Varma doesn’t own a mobile phone as most of the time he will be in the deep forest somewhere in the world. During his recent trip to the capital city, Surendra Varma recalled that he was in the deep forests in Karnataka for 160 days during the first and second waves of the pandemic.
He says that not a single animal in the forest had died of Covid as the micronutrients they consume help them strengthen their immune system, unlike human beings. He adds that wild boars help in the creation of various habitat conditions, spreading of plant seeds and providing long-term increase in biodiversity. Karnataka- based Surendra Varma feels that the policy-makers’ approach should be to understand the reasons that attract wild boars to human habitats.