But this is not the only instance of farmers being accused of hunting down wildlife in the areas bordering the forest lands in Kerala.
In 2020, there was a nationwide uproar when a pregnant elephant was killed in Palakkad district after it ate a pineapple stuffed with explosives —which had been kept there to trap a boar. Social media platforms were awash with condemnation of the ‘barbaric act’, with a barely-hidden communal and political slant. The case receded from attention, after three farmers were charged under provisions of the Indian Forest Act and Explosives Act.
But the tussle between humans and the wild boars continues. Earlier this year, in March, Sahadevan C K, a local CPI(M) leader and the councillor of Sultan Bathery municipality in Wayanad district, was driving home when a wild boar darted across the road—he swerved, lost control of the scooter, fell and sustained a serious head injury—he has been in coma for the last three months or so.
From wild boars to elephants, Kerala’s farmers are struggling to protect their fields, property and themselves from animal attacks. So much so that last year, the government of Kerala proposed to the Centre that wild boars be declared vermin – and their culling permitted. Under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, wild boars are Schedule-3 animals, which are protected, but can be hunted under specific conditions. According to the last count by the department of forests in 2011, the wild boar population in Kerala was 48,043. Forest department officials estimate that their number has gone up to 1 lakh, if not more. According to the Kerala Independent Farmers’ Association (KIFA), 24 people were killed in wild animal attacks between January 2021 and May 2022, and 103 people injured. The data available with the state wildlife department shows as many as 1,238 people have been killed by wild animals in the last decade alone.
The union ministry of environment, forest and climate change shot down the proposal to declare Kerala’s wild boars as vermin, since it forms a key prey base for leopards and tigers.
Left with no other option, and under pressure from farmers struggling to cope with wild boar attacks, the state government decided on 28 May 2022 to appoint members of local bodies as honorary wildlife wardens. This meant they could now take a call on killing wild boars that have been harmful to human lives and property. Local body presidents were entrusted with some powers of the chief wildlife warden, while Kerala forest minister A.K. Saseendran assured that there would be a mechanism to check any misuse. “This is a long-pending demand of the farmers which the government could not ignore. Farmers are being continuously attacked by wild animals and their crops are being destroyed. Many of them had even stopped farming," the minister said.
In the crosshairs
But a question cropped up soon enough: How do you kill a wild boar? The government has forbidden the use of electric snares or poison, or countrymade explosives in hunting the animals.
“The order is vague and impractical on many counts. Without snares or poison, how can we contain wild animals?" asks Alex Ozhukayil, the chairman of KIFA.
The only permitted way to kill boars is to shoot them. But only an empanelled person, who has a licence to use a gun, can be authorised by the local bodies to shoot the animal. They should not be culled by any other means, nor can the meat be sold or eaten. The carcass should be buried according to government guidelines. Since the government order, one kill has been reported from Kodenchery in Kozhikode. A farmer authorised by the panchayat killed one of two boars which had raided his farm on 1 June.
Babitha Benny of South Wayanad is the first woman to be empanelled as a shooter and has been on a few boar hunts, though she is yet to mark her first kill. “When authorities intimate us, we have to go to remote hilly areas and wait the night to get a sighting of the animal. It’s not an easy task," said Benny, who learned to shoot soon after her marriage in the 1990s. She and her husband are farmers who own a few acres of land.
Some farmers say declaring the wild boar as vermin is not enough. “People are no longer so willing to hunt boars as they did in the past. That was when meat was not easily available. Where will you find the shooters? Buying guns and getting it licensed is a tough task. You will soon find farmers setting illegal electric traps," said Tedy C X, a farmer who lives in Attappady, Palakkad.
In the late 1990s, when Tedy was in school, he remembers walking 10-12 kilometres to and fro, without any fear of an animal attack. “We never saw a boar. Now I see them four or five times a week when I drive to town," he said. Earlier, farmers would clear large forest areas for the cultivation of crops like ginger and tapioca. As farmers have switched over to cash crops like cardamom and rubber, private forest area has gone up. “Now a boar can easily travel to the city under cover of the foliage without people noticing it," he said.
To cull or not to cull
The result is a landscape overrun by wild animals. The damage caused by marauding herds of elephants is the most devastating. Apart from the loss of lives, losses mounting to several crores of rupees have been reported from many districts of Kerala.
Responding to a question raised in the Kerala assembly in February, the government said it has taken various measures such as solar fencing, rail fencing, digging of trenches and building of elephant-resistant walls to deal with wild elephant attacks. The government has set up 2,400 km long solar fencing and 500 trenches. “Nothing seems to be working in our case," said Mohammed Irshad, a farmer in Kasaragod district. “The fact is that despite the claims by the government, neither the authorities nor the local governments are taking the issue seriously," he said.
The scenario is leading even environmentalists to call for protecting farmers and their livelihoods from wildlife attacks in settlements near the forest. In a recent lecture, Madhav Gadgil, who headed the Western Ghats ecology expert panel, blamed the Wildlife Protection Act for the crisis.
‘The Wildlife (Protection) Act should not be reviewed but scrapped. The wild animals, be it boar, elephant or whatever, whose population has increased manifold and which trespasses into non-forest areas should be treated as vermin and hunted down. Unfortunately, the Wildlife (Protection) Act never included humans in the larger framework of survival. That’s why if dacoits or robbers attack, you could resist and even kill them under the right to self-defence. But not in the case of a wild boar that invades your field and robs you of your livelihood," said Gadgil.
If the intention of the law was to keep a balance in the forest ecosystem and protect certain species, it has not met those aims entirely, say those in favour of culling. “Now after 50 years, it’s time for a review of this act," said Hareesh Vasudevan, an environmental activist and lawyer of the Kerala High court.
He suggests a wildlife census to identify the animals which have proliferated beyond limits—and to identify them as vermin. By rejecting the proposal by the Kerala government, the Centre has contributed to the critical human-animal conflict in this part of the country, said Vasudevan.
Not everyone is as strident about the future course of action. S P Ravi, an environmental activist linked to the Chalakkudy river protection forum, said Gadgil’s suggestions might lead to harm. “His views could be counter-productive in many ways. When he bats for the right of the locals close to the forest areas to cull vermin animals and consume their meat, it could go really bad in practice. If they are given unrestricted right to cull animals, it could result in the hunting down of other animals too," said Ravi. Instead, a comprehensive approach considering the views of all the stakeholders, including farmers, environmentalists and the government agencies in the best interest of the wildlife is the need of the hour, he suggested.
Vasudevan also worries that the decision of the state government to empower the local body chiefs to pass the order on killing wild boars might complicate matters. ‘The Union government has forced the state to decentralize decision-making power, which, in the long run, could prove harmful. The local body chiefs cannot foresee the larger picture the way a wildlife official can. If the next day, farmers complain of a tiger menace, what stops the local body president from allowing them to shoot the animal?" said Vasudevan.
Drawing the line
Like all stories of human-animal conflict, this one, too, can be traced to the change in human habitats and lifestyle. “There were three types of pigs in Kerala, the domestic ones, feral pigs and wild boars," said T V Sajeev, a scientist with the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Thrissur. The feral pigs were the natural scavengers, which took care of most of the bio-waste produced by communities. As habitats and lifestyle changed, they became more and more unwelcome in human areas. “Over a period of time, the number of feral pigs diminished significantly. In the absence of predators, the wild boars started occupying their space," said Sajeev. “The fact is that we invited these wild boars to the human habitat by providing them with biowaste as easy food."
The failure of the government to find a permanent solution to the problem has driven farmers to mobilise. “The KIFA was formed after an online campaign for the constitutional rights of the farmers in 2020, after the infamous death of a pregnant elephant in Palakkad district. Farmers who were disgruntled with the mainstream political parties and organizations rallied behind us without much of an effort," said advocate Johnny George, the legal director of the organization. “We have already conducted state and district level camps for our workers and have constituted chapters all across the state except for Alappuzha district. It’s fast growing," he added.
The Kerala Forest Research Institute scientist said animals cannot be expected to follow human-made boundaries. “Boundary is a human concept. No other species are bound to respect it. For us it may be sacrosanct. When the animals occupy their space, it is ‘conflict’ for us. In earlier generations, we had sensitive people who knew every nuance of the biodiversity around. What we need is to learn to live with the biodiversity. A system in which farmers, forest dwellers and the government officials act in tandem will throw up the right solution," he said.
Meanwhile, farmers living around the Athirappilly forest area in Thrissur district are in panic as the bacteria which causes the deadly anthrax disease was found in wild boar carcasses. In the last week of June, the state health department confirmed the outbreak of anthrax, and the local people who had buried the dead animals have been asked to go into quarantine. Farmers who have been calling for the culling of wild boars sense an opening. They are pushing again for the permission to kill – and not just with a bullet.
