Animal rights group criticises human rights panel

Animal rights group Heritage Animal Task Force today came out against the suggestion of Kerala Human Rights Commission that the farmers be given special powers to kill crop ravaging wild boars.
In a letter to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), the Task Force alleged that the Commission's move was "unlawful" and "illegal intervention" into wildlife rules in the country.
"The State Human rights Commission had trespassed its powers and tried to intervene unnecessarily into the moving freedom of wild boars living in Kerala forest and in and around adjoining agricultural fields by asking to give special powers to the agriculturists to kill the animals," the Task Force said in a release here today.

It also criticised the Commission's demand to give special right for agriculturists to eat the meat of such wild boars which they killed.
"This type of 'unlawful and illegal intervention' into wildlife rules, prevailing in the country, is very dangerous for preserving the wild life objects especially in Western Ghats area," it added.