Recently, Union Environment and Forests Minster Prakash Javadekar sought the opinion of environment Ministers of all the States to declare certain scheduled animals of Wildlife Protection Act 1972 as vermin (nuisance animals).Under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, it will not be an offence to kill such animals like wild boar and blue bull which stray into human habitations and farm land and cause havoc. The crop growers will be free to hunt these animals.
Though the Minister has said that this was an old practice followed in the country in past, it is sure to cause enormous loss to the wildlife populations as people would resort to wanton hunting armed with the permission. Such destructive thought will certainly hamper the conservation measures of wildlife in general. Because there are several animals, birds and amphibians which damage agriculture crops, they would be targeted and killed. There are several species which just not damage the crops but kill or injure human beings during a face-off.
In this specific instance, Javadekar wants to declare the animals such as blue bull (Nilagali) and wild boar as vermin out of several crop eaters. Blue bull is an animal of bovine group like cow. It is the most innocent animal of the animal world. It is purely an herbivorous animal and usually eats grasses, herbs, climbers, nuts, fruits, flowers and also leaves of several species. It prefers always to avoid an encounter with human beings. It stays in open grassy areas with family. The Nilgais are always found in the group of 5 to 20, where cows, bulls and calves are included. The social structure of the animal is very strong. A blue bull always prefers to release its dung at one place every day. It is because any stray animal can relocate its group. Nilagai has no hump in its back and looks like a jersey cow. It looks slim and agile. It grazes on field usually during morning and evening hours. It breeds during any part of the year and the period of gestation is nine months and usually gives birth to one calf at a time. It looks grayish in colour. The species is found all over India, except Bengal, Assam and Malabar coast.
It enjoys complete immunity because it belongs to the group of cow. No sportsman or poacher dares to kill this animal because of the religious association of the cow. It does not require much of water for survival. As the habitat areas of the species are shrinking very fast due to various reasons, the species is forced to come to corn fields for its usual intake of foods. It is very swift moving and escapes from most difficult terrains with great speed. The Union Government should encourage the agriculturists to raise alternate crops which are not prone to be damaged by Nilagai and wild boars. Where there are chances of such damages, preferably oil seeds, cotton and fruit orchards should be cultivated with Government assistance. The State Government should also encourage the crop growers within the vicinities of forest areas for cultivation of such crops. The tribal villagers within the forests know well which crops should be grown in which land for successful yielding.
The writer worked in the State Forest Department and for the first time, heard that a bovine is being suggested as vermin. This is unfortunate.Nilagai and wild pig are scheduled animals under schedule III of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and their populations are reducing fast mainly for shrinking of habitats. The Nilagai is susceptible to diseases which affect the bovines like cows and buffaloes etc.The foot and mouth diseases are very common to Nilagai, which spreads from neighbouring villages of the forest blocks. The writer has seen a large numbers of bovines who met death in Angul forest division during seventies and eighties. Now this peninsular species is becoming very thin due to large scale industrial as well as mining activities and also for loss of ground cover.
Wild pig or Jungle Barah or Sukar is a known species. The colour of the animal is black, grayish or rusty brown. The new born are with light or black stripes. The male has thicker dense mane. The jungle pig is more agile than a village pig. But village pigs are weightier than the jungle ones. It is available throughout India. It prefers to live in grassy and scrubby jungle. It is also found in dense Similipal forests. It is omnivorous, which lives on crops, roads tubers, insects, snakes and carrions of other animals. It is a nasty eater and feeds on during night, evening and morning hours. It is a prolific breeder and breeds in all seasons. There is always a fight between the males to win the females. The period of gestation is four months. The female gives birth to six youngs at a time. But the writer has seen in Similipal forests, mother boars moving with more than 10 youngs each. After breeding, the mother always stays with the youngs.
This species has no enemy other than man. The tiger and the lion are very fond of its meat. The male boar is very revengeful and dangerous. There is little hope of escaping from a wounded wild male pig. Even a tiger is afraid of a face-to-face encounter with a male Sukar.The wild pigs are prone to diseases which usually affect the village swine. The main cause of depletion of their population is hunting through snares, bows, arrows and fire arms. The forest fire is most inimical for all ground animals. The depletion of habitats of this animal forces it to invade the cornfields for existence. The change of corn patterns can help dissuade these animals from sneaking into corn fields. This is the only solution of the present crisis.