The decision of the Himachal government permitting the killing of simians along with other wild animals in order to help the farmers protect their crops from the attack of wild animals has brought to the fore the ugly spat between man and animals. Even as animal activists are up in arms against the government decision allowing wild animals to be killed, the protesting farmers, who were seeking a solution to the attacking of crops by wild animals, look reasonably satisfied.
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had been quoted in the media saying that with population of wild animals in the state reaching an alarming number, the state government had told the state wildlife authorities to kill wild animals including monkey, wild boars and blue bulls.
There has been considerable rise in simian population since the last few years in Himachal Pradesh.
According to the census conducted by the wildlife authorities in Himachal few years back, simian (monkey and langur) population in the state has exceeded the 400,000 mark. According to rough estimates, the simian carrying capacity of forest the in Himachal is estimated to be 150,000 and the excess number was the main reason for the simians to invade the habituated areas and destroying the crops.
However wildlife officials maintained no official survey to identify carrying capacity of forest has been done.
Tikender Singh Panwar, president, Himachal Kisan Sabha, reiterated the excessive growth of pine trees across Himachal is also responsible for the plight of the farmers. Since pine trees don’t offer any fodder, simians are forced to wander in search of food, and as a result invade the populated territories.
The farmers lobbying in Himachal under various banners had been mounting pressure on successive government since last many years seeking permission to protect their crops from the menace of wild animals.
According to Panwar almost 3,000 panchayats across 10 districts in Himachal Pradesh has been impacted by the attack of wild animals especially monkeys and wild boars. The acuteness of the situation in some villages forced the farmers to sow crops amidst constant fear of them being destroyed, thus causing huge losses to the farmers.
While the state agriculture department has not conducted any assessment on the amount of crops being destroyed by wild animals every year, the farmer activists claim the loss was huge.
Panwar maintained, with government instructing the wildlife authorities to issue permits for killing of wild animals, 300 permits have been issued to famers and around 50 simians have been killed .
The wildlife officials however are yet to assess the number of permits issued and the number of monkeys killed.
Now with the animal activists raising concern and protest against the killing of wild animals, wildlife authorities in Himachal are planning to conduct a stakeholder meeting to find an amicable solution to the problem.
Even as the wildlife officials maintained they were looking for organising meeting of the stakeholders in which farmer lobbyists as well as animal activists would be called, the farmer organisation believe there exists no amicable solution.
Already the proposal by the authorities send to the Centre seeking permission for allowing export of monkeys has been turned down and hence there seems bleak chances of any amicable solution being worked out.
