Declare wild pigs as vermin for at least six months: Kerala forest minister
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Close on the heels of the Centre rejecting its request to bring amendments to the Wildlife Protection Act, the state has again approached the Union Ministry with the same demand.
In a letter to the ministry, Forest Minister A K Saseendran pointed out loopholes in the Centre's stance that the chief wildlife warden has powers to effectively deal with human-wildlife conflict. The minister urged the Centre to declare wild boars as vermin — at least in villages identified as conflict hotspots — for a period of six months.
Saseendran, in his letter to Union Minister for Environment and Forests Bhupender Yadav, pointed out that the chief wildlife warden has only limited powers to act swiftly in critical situations involving human-wildlife conflicts.
'Chief wildlife warden is empowered first to capture, tranquilise or translocate a dangerous animal. If these options are not feasible, then only the chief wildlife warden may permit killing of the identified wild animal listed in Schedule I of the Act. These procedural constraints have limited the warden's ability to act swiftly in critical situations,' he said.
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