Follow norms while killing 'rogue' wild animals: Minister

THRISSUR: Forest minister K Raju said on Saturday that government has permitted forest officers to eliminate 'rogue animals' like wild boars that stray into human habitats and create continuous problems after ensuring that 'legal norms' are followed.
Speaking at the function held to mark the launch of the second phase work of the zoological park at Puthoor, Raju said the norms include that such animals were repeatedly raiding crops and that such animals can be gunned down only in farm areas. The government has enhanced the compensation for victims of wild animal attacks.

The compensation for families of people killed in wild animal attack has been doubled from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. The government has also doubled the compensation for crop destruction by wild animals. The amount is fixed based on the nature of crops, he said, adding that steps are being taken to expand the fencing around forests to prevent man-animal conflict. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been earmarked for the same from KIIFB and Rs 25 crore has already been allocated, he added.

The minister said the zoological park will be opened on schedule and all animals from Thrissur zoo will be relocated by 2020. Minister for agriculture VS Sunil Kumar asked the forest department to allocate the land at the existing zoo to construct a cultural complex. Minister for education C Raveendranath inaugurated the construction work.

Later, inaugurating the lady research scholars' hostel at Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) in Peechi, the minister said serious research must be conducted to develop new methods to control increasing cases of forest fire. He said institutions like KFRI must take the lead as conventional methods are increasingly becoming ineffective. Efforts using helicopters are becoming costly, he said.