The state government has allowed controlled killing of wild boars in the state. The reason: the boars destroy cultivated crops! True. But, a recent study on 'The diet of leopards inhabiting protected areas and human dominated landscapes of Goa'… has shown that the leopards in these areas feast more on the wild boar than domesticated animals accounting for 29% of the prey biomass. The study states that the dog, pig, goat and cat account for a ‘minor’ 33%? By reducing the wild boar population, we are reducing the feed of leopards who will now prey on domesticated animals! This kind of human-animal conflict will be deadly. In fact, farmers say that monkeys are more pests than the boar.
In Tamil Nadu, farmers resort to solar fences that produce a short duration severe shock that keeps the boars out! Humans need to promote feed for the food chain: cultivate with minimum effort sugarcane and hog plum trees further from the commercial crops along with water holes, duly ‘live’ solar fenced-in so that wild boar and leopards will be freely housed away from human habitat.
