Kerala government to enlist police to impart firearm training to farmers for culling marauding wild boars

Kerala government faces legal hurdles in training farmers to shoot wild boars; plans AI-driven electric fences to prevent conflicts. Kerala government to enlist police to impart firearm training to farmers for culling marauding wild boars

The Kerala government plans to enlist the police to impart firearm training to farmers to shoot and kill marauding wild boars.

However, Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran told the Kerala Assembly on June 26 that the government had a few legal hurdles to surmount. Animal rights activists had obtained a stay from the Kerala High Court against the scheme.

He was replying to a Calling Attention motion tabled by Communist Party of India (CPI) legislator P.S. Supal.

Mr. Saseendran said the Central government “stonewalled” Kerala’s demand to declare wild boars that attack farmers, destroy their crops and wreck the ecosystem as vermin. He noted there was also a shortage of firearm licenses for farmers.

The government has vested the panchayat presidents of villages abutting forests with the wildlife warden’s powers to cull wild boars. 

Mr. Saseendran said the government planned to install artificial intelligence-driven electric fences to keep wildlife from raiding human habitations.

Cameras mounted on walls would detect wildlife ingress in advance, sound an alarm to warn residents, and simultaneously alert the Forest department’s nearest rapid response team. The pilot project was under way at the Chethalayam Forest Range in the South Wayanad Forest Division. If found successful, the government would implement the scheme across the State, he said.