Government sanctioned extermination of hundreds of Neelgai (blue bull) in Bihar has once again elicited focus on the need for an integrated approach for tackling human-wildlife conflict in Uttarakhand, where the State Government had last year offered to pay cost of the bullet to farmers shooting wild boar declared ‘vermin’ as per the official procedure.
Wildlife scientists and activists are not in favour of measures like sanctioned killing of wild boars and the sterilization of monkeys undertaken in Uttarakhand, citing varied factors including inefficacy of such actions for mitigation of human-wildlife conflict.
It should be mentioned here that human-wildlife conflict is a major issue in both the mountainous and plain regions of Uttarakhand where damage caused to cultivation by macaques and wild boar has even made villagers give up agriculture in some cases.
Earlier, during 2015, the Chief Minister Harish Rawat had declared that the State will pay the cost of bullet to anyone who shoots a wild boar deemed vermin with the department’s sanction. This decision had attracted differing opinions with activists stating that such a blanket sanction for killing wild boar is a violation of the regulations.
Similarly, the establishment of monkey shelter for sterilization of monkeys has also been lambasted by many who state that far from resolving the simian menace, it would make it worse making the macaques more aggressive towards humans.
WWF-India senior programme officer IP Bopanna state that predators including the tiger and leopard among others, play a major role in maintaining the wildlife population balance preying on wild boar among others.
The wild boar is considered to be an intelligent creature which has a good fecundity rate with one female giving birth to about 24 boarlets in a year. Though the wild boar population doesn’t appear to be under threat at present, Bopanna recalls that during the 70s when the government had declared the Dhole (Indian wild dog) a vermin offering Rs five per Dhole killed had led to extinction of the Dhole from the Terai belt from Rajaji national park to Bihar.
Reacting more strongly against the ‘vermin’ extermination, Gauri Maulekhi of People For Animals (PFA) said, “The visuals of Asia’s largest antelope being gunned down reminds one of colonial ‘game hunters’. In the history of India there has never been such a massacre facilitated by the Forest Minister. No state has shown any efforts made towards mitigation of human-wildlife conflict nor have they conducted a scientific census of the animals. The fact that habitat destruction is the main cause for human-wildlife conflict appears to have been ignored by the Government even as almost every forest range having substantial encroachments. The authorities need to focus on effective long term solutions in stead of unscientific action for short-term relief,” stressed Maulekhi.