During a meeting on Wednesday, where various pending issues concerning Maharashtra were discussed, Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar consented to the state's proposal of declaring the two species vermin. Chief ministerDevendraFadnavis and forest minister SudhirMungantiwar were present at the meeting.

The state government had demanded vermin status for wild boar and nilgai, citing losses these animals cause to farmers by way of crop depredation. In fact, as per estimates, the state pays around Rs5 crore annually to farmers whose crops are damaged by animals.

Culling with a clause

"This will be done on an experimental basis... they will be declared vermin in only specific parts of Latur, Beed, Osmanabad and Jalgaon," Mungantiwar said, adding that only after assessing the benefits and pitfalls of the move, the state government would think of extending it to other parts of Maharashtra.

A notification to this effect would soon be issued by MoEFCC, specifying a term of six months or above during which these two species would be put in the 'vemin' category. "Declaring these as vermin for a specific period and geography will ensure that they are culled without restrictions only in those areas and during that period. This will enable people to kill these animals without the permission from the forest department," said a senior forest official.

Another forest official explained that both wild boars and blue bulls are listed under Schedule III of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. "But they can be hunted after getting permissions from the forest department under Section 11 (1) (b) of the Act that allows hunting of any animal under Schedule III in a specific area if it has become dangerous to human life or property (including standing crops on any land)," he said, adding that being declared vermin means reduction of protection and inclusion in Schedule V of the Act. Once under Schedule V, protected animals are treated on a par with common crows, fruit bats and rats.

Animal activists riled

The decision of Javadekar, however, has not gone down well with environmentalists and animal lovers. They argue that this decision will give "hunters" easy access to forests for hunting the 'vermin' and that, in the absence of a monitoring mechanism, they may pose a threat to several other existing wildlife, including leopards and tigers.

NGO Vanashakti project director Stalin D said the decision was completely unconstitutional. "Wild boars and blue bulls have not entered human areas, it's the other way round. While the state has been paying good compensation to farmers for their losses, it has never bothered to address the habitat loss of these animals," he said, adding, it was strange that the ministry that should be protecting wildlife was issuing orders to cull them.

ShakuntalaMajumdar, president of Thane Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (TSPCA), said that while there was this major issue of crop destruction, the state seemed to have failed in mitigating the issue. "We understand that the state is paying a huge compensation to the farmers for crop destruction, but it's surprising that it has not been able to help provide farmers with measures like solar fencing to stop such animals from entering farms," she said. Her organisation would be meeting experts alternatives to avoid culling and present their suggestions before the ministers concerned, she added.