KOCHI: hile Kerala debates the need to control wildlife population to reduce human-wild animal conflicts, the forest department has decided to approach the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), seeking permission to launch a birth control programme to reduce monkey menace.
With farmers living on forest fringes complaining about the growing monkey menace affecting their livelihood, the plan is to use artificial birth control measures to control the population of bonnet macaques. A workshop will be held on May 28 to finalise the proposal.
Experts pointed out that western countries use many artificial birth control programmes like surgical sterilisation, intramuscular injection, and oral contraceptives to control wildlife population.
“We are submitting a proposal before the Centre for the artificial birth control of bonnet macaques. We have to get approval from MoEF&CC and will finalise the choice based on the ministry’s guidelines,” a senior forest department official said.
At the same time, he said there is no proposal to implement birth control measures for wild elephants. “The recent enumeration has revealed that the wild elephant population is declining. India has not implemented any birth control programme for elephants. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is working on a project to develop immuno-contraceptive measures for population management of various species, including elephants,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kerala Forest Research Institute wildlife biologist P Balakrishnan said many European countries use fertility control as an alternative to culling of wild animals in an attempt to address human-wildlife conflict.
“They mainly use immuno-contraceptive vaccines and oral contraceptives. But the question of implementing birth control programmes arise only when we have scientific evidence of an overabundance of a species. We don’t have any study proving abundance of a species,” Balakrishnan said.
According to a forest officer, population management is an integral part of the wildlife management programme.
“We have been implementing it as part of measures to reduce the human-wildlife conflict. In recent years, we have tranquillised and shifted around 25 tigers from the Wayanad region. The government has bestowed the status of honorary wildlife warden on panchayat presidents to eliminate wild pigs destroying crops. The argument that tiger population has increased in Wayanad cannot be substantiated as there was a decline in numbers in the recent census,” the officer said.
He said the carrying capacity of Wayanad forests cannot be assessed as there are around 100 human habitations around the sanctuary. “It is part of the Nilgiris Biosphere which includes Bandipur National Park, Mudumalai National Park and the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. The biosphere is spread over 5,000 sq km and studies suggest that the density of tigers can be 10 to 12 per 100 sq km. The current tiger density in the biosphere is only 7.7 to 8,” the officer said.
Population mgmt
Many European countries use fertility control as an alternative to culling of wild animals, says a wildlife biologist
Population management is an integral part of the wildlife management programme, says a forest officer