DHARMAPURI: Farmers urged forest staff to take immediate steps to cull wild boars or take initiatives to ensure that they are kept away from farmlands.
On Friday, farmers grievance day was held at the forest department headquarters in the district where over 30 farmers participated in the meeting. During the meeting, farmers expressed that the recent government order (G.O No 7) on culling of wild boars is extremely dissatisfactory. Further, farmers urged officials to take immediate steps to cull or curb wild boar movement which affects farmlands.”
N Murali, a farmer, said, “Wild boars have been deemed as vermin and a GO has been passed to shoot them down, but so far there has been no initiative by forest staff to keep wild boars away. Farmlands are attacked almost daily and farmers have no means to control the situation. We hope that the forest department can take immediate steps to shoot down wild boars in farmlands. Further, other initiatives to keep wild boars away from farmlands must also be introduced.”
Another farmer K Annadurai said, “The GO is a disappointment as only wild boars crossing a 3 km threshold from the forest area would be shot. Cultivation is usually done within this threshold. Moreover, wild boars might flee by the time forest staff arrive at the scene.”
Forest officials said, “The GO was passed based on a collective study done by various departments under the state government. We have sent a proposal seeking permission to train the rifleman within the forest. After training, we would be able to shoot wild boars as per the law.”