Permit tribespeople to hunt wild boar for food, suggests policy document

Centre for Development Studies document suggests shifting the species to Schedule 5 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act

Instead of culling wild boars to check their population, the tribal communities shall be permitted to hunt them for food for a limited period, suggested a draft policy document on addressing human-wildlife conflicts.

The policy document, ‘Empowering forest-fringe panchayats: A policy reflection on the solution to the shrinking human-wildlife interface in Kerala’ was prepared up by the Research Unit on Local Self-Government, Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram.

The document, which suggested shifting the wild boar from Schedule 3 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act to Schedule 5, noted that permitting hunting for food for a limited period would address the food security aspects of local communities. It could even attract a market for wild meat and for value-added products based on it. The Meat Products of India, a government institution, which process and supplies meat in Kerala, could be roped in to handle the hunted boars. The hunting rights must be limited to local tribal communities and it should be closely monitored. It shall be called off once the animal population declines, it suggested.