In Goa, wild boars may soon be legally hunted, with the State wildlife board recommending periodic killing of the wild species, due to complaints by local farmers and horticulturists, about the beasts destroying their crops regularly.
State Environment and Forests Minister Rajendra Arlekar on Wednesday told The Pioneer that the recommendations have been sent to the National Wildlife Board, which will scrutinise and take a call on whether wild boars need to be culled or not.
“The State wildlife board has recommended to the NWB to cull wild boars in specific geographical areas and over specific periods of time because they destroy crops,” Arlekar told The Pioneer on Wednesday.
Wild boars are commonly found in the State’s hinterland, which fringes the Sahyadri ghats, that are a part of the Western Ghats area. Wild boars are also regularly poached in Goa for their meat, which is sought after, across the Konkan belt.
While the culling of wild boars has already been recommended by the state wildlife board, the issue of culling wild animals and birds has been a topic of discussion in the state over the last few months.
The debate was started by Goa’s agriculture minister Ramesh Tawadkar, who had wanted the peacock, a national bird and the state animal the gaur (Great Indian Bison) to be culled along with specific species of monkeys, who he claimed were causing havoc to crops.
After the intervention by Chief Minister laxmikant Parsekar, the issue of culling of peacocks and the bison, was put to rest, even as monkeys could still face the risk of being culled in the near future.
Arlekar however said, that for now only wild boars have been recommended for culling by the State wild life board, that too after due diligence.
“The culling will be allowed only in specific areas of the State and over defined periods of time... The recommendation was made after we received lot of petitions by farmers, who said that their crops were being destroyed wild boars,” Arlekar said.