Elephants, leopards, rhinos and now wild
boars ~ the man animal conflict in north Bengal has assumed
a special tangent following successive wild boar attacks since
Tuesday night in the islands created by the Ganga in Malda
district.
At least 20 people have sustained injury from the wild boar
raids in two villages ~ Jitunagar and Vilpara ~ that are on
islands created by the Ganga under Kaliachak II block. The
critically injured have had to be admitted to hospitals.
Four persons have been admitted to the Bangitola rural hospital
and five others have been admitted to the Malda district hospital.
In retaliation, the villagers have killed two of the raiding
boars. According to them, the others have taken refuge in
the thicket causing more sleepless nights for the them. Forest
department officials went to the islands today and tried to
trap the remaining three boars without success. The forest
department now plans to engage a hunter to do the job
According to a forest official Mr Jagannath Mondal, the department
is trying to fetch a hunter from Siliguri. It remains unknown
whether the boars would be tranquilised or shot down.
According to the residents of Jitunagar and Vilpara, the raiding
boars are huge, almost the size of elephant calves.
"They have large tusk like projections from the corner
of their mouths and those are proving deadly weapons,"
the villagers, said. According to the villagers, the boars
have arrived from Jharkhand on the western side of the Ganga.
The Malda SP, Mr DK Mondal, has instructed the Mothabari out
post to monitor the situation and extend help to the villagers.