Animal rights activist and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Maneka Gandhi has slammed the State government’s decision to empower panchayats to cull wild boars. She cautioned against the far-reaching consequences the move would have on the ecology and public life in general.
However, Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran staunchly defended the move and criticised the Centre for rejecting the State’s repeated demands to declare the species as vermin and for propagating misleading claims in the issue. The decision has been made in the face of the Union government’s apathy towards the woes of large sections of people who resided in forest fringes, he said.
In her letter to Mr. Saseendran, Ms. Gandhi said the decision could result in a massacre of wild boars not just in panchayats and agricultural lands, but also in the forests.
