THOOTHUKUDI: Forest department officials from Thoothukudi district have sent hair and tissue samples of pigs to Advanced Institute of Wildlife Conservation (AIWC) in Chennai to determine whether the animals destroying agricultural fields in Kovilpatti, Ettayapuram and Vilathikulam are wild boars or feral pigs.
Pig menace has been a raging issue over several years across the rain-fed tracts of said areas, with pigs, in herds, allegedly damaging agricultural fields during the northeast monsoon season. Several farmers have claimed that pigs mostly damage corn, maize or pulses, and complained about being attacked by the animals while visiting the fields alone.
The farmers alleged that their acts of retaliation, including attacking or culling of pigs, had attracted penal action from forest officials, since an ambiguity prevails in the classification of the pig species.
According to sources, over 20 farmers are annually being booked for attacking pigs since 2018, besides over two dozen being severely injured by pigs. However, forest officials claimed that they did not register any FIRs in this regard during 2014.
K Prem Kumar, a farmer from Villiseri, said that the forest officials had booked the farmers for attacking or culling the pigs, even though the animal is not classified as a wild animal or a protected species. "There is confusion due to the intervention of the forest officials.
If it is a wild animal, the forest department must provide adequate compensation for the damaged crops and relief for injured farmers. However, they deny compensation and relief, but initiated penal actions against farmers," he said.
Besides, farmers claimed that the pigs, causing a menace, in the areas are not domesticated, but have gone feral and live in uninhabited areas on the outskirts of the villages. Unlike domesticated pigs, these feral pigs are wild and see humans as strangers. If it is a wild animal, the forest officials should provide compensation and relief to affected farmers, added Prem Kumar.
Moreover, seemai karuvelam (juliflora proposis) trees, growing on barren land, irrigation tanks and on the banks of Vaippar, are a safe haven for the pigs to proliferate, the farmers claimed, demanding that the district administration clear the invasive tree species.
Another farmer, A Varadharajan, said several farmers have resorted to placing traps or speakers playing sounds of barking dogs around their fields, but many of these techniques hardly prove to be effective.
To put an end to the ambiguity in classification, the officials have recently sent samples of pigs to determine their classification. "The analysis report is yet to arrive. It may help determine the pig species, and compensation would be provided if they are classified as wild boars," said the official.