After oil spill, wild boar attacks man at Ernavoor

CHENNAI: In the rarest of rare cases, the capital city has now reported a wild boar attack within the corporation limits recently.

Residents of Ennore who are already reeling from the oil spill, now have additional ecological problems. The latest to the list is the man-animal conflict, some 16 kilometres from Chennai Central.

Following the oil spill, the local civic authorities in Sathyamurthy Nagar felled the trees to ensure that there was no incidence of fire breaking out among the avenue trees. But this has taken away the natural habitat of the wild boars, which are now frequenting residential areas endangering public lives.

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) authorities have also reached out to the forest department seeking their intervention. Munusamy (60), victim of the boar attack, had gone to attend nature’s call in an open area.

“There was heavy blood loss after the wild animal attacked him. We were clueless about the incident as for the first time wild boars had come into our village from Sathyamurthy Nagar. Due to oil leaks after the floods, the government had cut down trees and shrubs with traces of oil to prevent fire accidents. This resulted in the boars losing their habitat and the animal attacking my father-in-law,” said A Jayapriya.

Residents of the Adi Dravidar (AD) Colony took him to the nearest UPHC but were asked to go to a private hospital for treatment. He was later admitted to Akash Hospital in Periyar Nagar, Tiruvottiyur. “After tests, doctors said his chest-bone was fractured and surgery was needed. We have already spent up to Rs 50,000 so far and we can’t afford anymore,” she added.

Several people in Ernavoor defecate in the open due to the poor condition of public toilets. The recent incident of the wild boar attack has scared the residents of colony. They have urged the State government to take steps to ensure the wild animals do not venture into the area again.

“Usually, the area is full of stray cattle and dogs and there have been no steps taken by the Corporation to control the menace. Wild boars come at night or early morning hours only but what if it comes during the day and attacks residents again? The State government should build a fence to protect us to prevent such attacks,” opined R Vignesh, a Ernavoor resident.

Councillor R Jayaraman, Ward 4, stated: “We’re yet to file a complaint to the departments concerned about the boar attack.”

When contacted, a veterinary officer of Tiruvottiyur (Zone 1) said, “Due to the change in habitat of the wild boars, it has come into the village and attacked the resident. We’ve already informed the forest department and steps will be taken.”

It is noteworthy that the GCC does not have a team to catch pigs. They hire private catchers to deal with strays, which are caught and released in the outskirts.