Forest dept personnel permitted to shoot wild boars found 3 km away from reserved forest areas, says Ponmudy

CHENNAI: Forest department personnel are permitted to shoot wild boars that stray 3 km away from reserved forest areas, said Forest Minister K Ponmudy while replying to the call attention motion moved by AIADMK and other parties in the TN Assembly on Friday.

The Tamil Nadu government issued an order regarding this following a recommendation from a 19-member committee, which was constituted to find a solution to the wild boar menace and man-animal conflicts in the state, said the minister.

He continued that there is no permission to shoot wild boars within a radius of 1 km from RF, while they can be chased inside the forest if the animal is found between 1 km and 3 km from the boundary of the RF.

“We will consider whether farmers with licensed guns can be permitted to shoot the wild boars that enter agricultural fields 3 km away from the RF area,” the minister responded to a suggestion from the legislators.

He further said the government had taken several initiatives, such as erecting hanging solar fencing and digging elephant-proof trenches to prevent elephants from straying into human habitations and agricultural areas.

The department has also been engaging kumki elephants to chase the wild elephant herds and wandering lone tuskers into forest areas.

“As per the CM’s advice, the department enhanced the compensation twice for crop damages and victims of man-animal conflicts. The government is now giving Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the families of victims killed by wild elephants,” he said and noted that the government disbursed Rs 11.43 crore to 6,765 beneficiaries in 2022-2023, Rs 17.30 crore to 10,260 beneficiaries, and Rs 10.55 crore to 5,035 beneficiaries till January 2 in the present fiscal year.