Representative Image: Mathrubhumi
Former union forest minister Maneka Gandhi Thursday urged the Kerala govt to reconsider the Permission granted to local bodies to cull the wild boars that pose a threat to agricultural crops.
In a letter to Kerala forest minister AK Saseendran, she urged the govt to reconsider the issue as wild boars are 'useful animals' in the forest. 'They are needed to keep the ecological balance'.
There is a plant called bracken in the forests that prevent seedlings from growing. Maneka observed that wild boars are the only animals that eat brackens. Hence the survival of boars is needed.
She also said that wild boar being preys to big cats, the culling may result in intrusion of them into villages adjacent to forests.