After the Himachal farmers recent extreme step of killing wild animals to protect their crops on valid permits drew extreme reactions from across the country,their hopes have once again been raised for a lasting solution to the basic problem of widespread destruction of crops by animals. The State Wildlife Department has now decided to invite all stakeholders,including farmers organisations from Himachal and other states affected with the same problem,expert scientists on primate protection and animal rights organisations,for joint consultations to arrive at an amicable solution for the problem of losses to farmers due to wild animals destroying standing crops in fields. Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden of the state A.K. Gulati said,The joint consultations are expected to be held in mid-January and we have been successful in getting in-principal cooperation of the farmers group Kheti Bachao Sangharsh Samiti for the joint consultations. After the Central government turned down a proposal by Himachal to allow export of monkeys for scientific research,appoint crop guards under MNREGA and failure of measures to translocate monkeys within the state,the state wildlife department is now pinning hopes on joint consultations. Meanwhile,Chairman KBSS Kuldeep Tanwar said,We would try to pursue for export of monkeys as it is also a kind of translocation. The Centre needs to understand that the export of monkeys is better than using the legal option of Wildlife Protection Act of killing the monkeys for crop protection. The department would once again approach the Centre for a project to track behavioral studies of monkeys for long-term solutions against crop damage by them. The project is pending for the Centres approval for the past one year.
