For the first time in the State, forest officials in Ranni shot dead a wild boar, invoking the provisions in a government order in March allowing them to gun down crop-raiding wild boars declaring them as vermin, at Aruvappulam on Thursday night. Villagers have been complaining of large-scale destruction of crops and even attacks on people by wild boars in parts of Ranni and Konni adjoining forests.
Similar complaints had come from other parts of the State too, following which the government issued the order.
Divisional Forest Officer K.N. Shyam Mohanlal issued a directive to range officer J. Selin Jose to gun down wild boars that had been destroying crops at Aruvappulam and vicinity.
A squad led by Mr. Jose fired at a herd of crop-raiding wild boars in the backyard of a house at Aruvappulam around 11.30 p.m. on Thursday. A female boar of around five years was killed while the other animals escaped. The boar weighed 100 kg and the carcass was buried in a nearby rubber plantation after autopsy on Friday.
