Malnad farmers’ new bane: Monkeys and wild boars

Shimoga, 30 Sep 2012: Farmers of Malnad region have a new worry on their hands - menace of monkeys and wild boars. The beleaguered farmers, particularly in Theerthahalli, Hosanagar and Sagar taluks, have already had their share of trouble with rain fury and crop diseases that have adversely impacted agricultural production this time.

 

To add to this is the havoc wreaked by wild animals on their crops. Farmers say there has been an unprecedented surge in monkeys and wild boars entering human habitat. This wildlife invasion has made farmers a worried lot. They say monkeys come in hordes and attack the gardens and paddy fields and pick on the tender crops, nuts and fruits. Not only monkeys, packs of wild boars too have run over cultivated land and destroyed plants and crops.

 

In the past month, the losses suffered by farmers run into a few lakhs. The break in monsoon aggravated the situation, with the wild animals making the most of the dry spell and going on a rampage. Farmers have urged the forest and horticulture departments to intervene and help them salvage atleast whatever produce is left.

 

Horticultural authorities, while acknowledging the menace and problems faced by farmers, say they are helpless and point fingers at the forest department. They say they cannot curb the menace nor help the farmers. Forest officials in Shimoga in turn have admitted to the rise in incursion of monkeys and wild boars in the area but they say they have no relief to offer to farmers. An official said wildlife rules stipulate that the animals cannot be harmed.

 

When district officials brought the plight of farmers to the notice of the principal chief conservator of forests, they were apparently told to the catch the animals and leave them at a distant place from where they can’t return to the same area.

 

Farmers say catching the monkeys is a difficult and costly job. Those simians that were nabbed and released far from the human habitats still managed to come back with added numbers, they say. Local methods to scare these wild animals too have not yielded result. Some farmers have tried tying old brightly coloured saris to the fences, used crackers and also placed dummies of monkeys to ward them away but to little avail.

- TOI