The wild boar — a hairy, surly beast with razor sharp tusks —might soon be declared a vermin, if wildlife experts and Goa’s lawmakers have their way. This could result in massive hunting of the
animal as its meat is considered a rare delicacy.
However, the national bird peacock and the State animal of Goa, the Great Indian Bison, may count themselves lucky as they have not made it to the State Government’s vermin list this time round.
The pitch to declare wild boar a vermin was formally made by leader of Opposition Pratapsingh Rane, who said that the beasts were prolific breeders and caused extensive damage to the flora, crops, flower and fruit agriculture.
“Wild boar is a prolific breeder. Maharashtra and Kerala have already declared wild boars as vermin,” Rane told the Goa legislative Assembly.
In February, Goa’s Agriculture Minister Ramesh Tawadkar created a furore after he said at a public function that a process was on to declare the national bird peacock, the State animal of Goa the Great Indian Bison, wild boars and some species of monkeys as vermin, because they were causing extensive damage to farmers and flora in Goa’s rural areas and villages close to the forests.
Tawadkar was, however, forced to retract his comment and later clarified that the peacock and the bison, also called Gaur in Goa, had been dropped from the list of potential vermin animals and birds.
Now, the brunt of the retraction apparently will be borne by the wild boars that invade the villages located within the reaches of the Western Ghats.
The boars, according to Rane, spare nothing, regularly uproot flower bulbs, sugar cane crops, damage paddy fields and other crops.
“Some people have even given up farming because of the menace. Wild boars also damage my flower beds by eating the bulbs,”
Rane said.
Giving voice to the woes of farmers from the rural sub-district of Sanguem, BJP MlA Subhash Phaldesai said that monkeys and bisons too were causing extensive damage to farmers.
“Groups of monkeys damage coconut crops. Wild boars damage sugarcane fields. Bisons also bother us. A herd of five to six bisons damage an entire paddy field or cashew crop. These bison herds are tormenting farmers,” he said.
Amid the cries for declaring the wild boar a vermin, other ruling MlAs like Calangute MlA Michael lobo, Thivim MlA Kiran Kandolkar and St. Andre MlA Vishnu Wagh advised caution, with the latter even reminding the Assembly that the wild boar or ‘warah’ in Sanskrit was an ancient avatar of lord Vishnu.
“If we declare them as vermin, people will take advantage. In the market wild boar meat is available. People will kill more of them,” lobo said.
Minister for Environment and Forests Rajendra Arlekar expressed regret that the genesis of the vermin issue stemmed from a human-animal conflict, but also conceded that a process had been initiated by his Ministry to eventually consider listing of pest beasts as vermin.
“We could not safeguard our forests, that’s why the animals are coming into our habitats. We have destroyed their forests and their food. We should try to ensure that these animals stay in the forests,” Arlekar said.
“Declaring an animal a vermin is not easy. Data needs to be collected about which animals are vermin... A process has been started by the Forest Department as to which animals are causing harm to crops (in rural Goa),” the Minister said, adding that the process of declaring pest animals and birds as vermin was a long drawn one and required clearance from the Central Government.