Kerala kills 4,734 wild boars by July after local bodies get authorisation for culling

Kerala has eliminated as many as 4,734 wild boars that strayed into human habitations, posing a threat to residents and crops, until July 2025, after local self-government institutions were authorised to carry out the culling operation.

The State roped in the local self-government institutions to implement the culling exercise after a rise in the population of wild boars and man-animal conflict in the forest fringe areas.

Palakkad reported the highest culling with 1,457 boars, followed by Malappuram (826), Thiruvananthapuram (796), and Kannur (677).

Replying to a starred question in the Kerala Assembly on Thursday (September 18, 2025), Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran said the validity of the order that has appointed the chairpersons of the local self-government bodies as honorary wildlife wardens to take steps to kill and dispose of the wild boars as per the conditions of the Union government has been extended until May 25, 2026.

In the case of the bonnet macaque, since the animal falls in the Scheduled I category of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, the State has limitations to cull the animals from the affected regions. However, the Forest department has been taking steps to translocate the animals caught from the conflict regions to suitable ecosystems within the forests, he said.

The draft Wildlife Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2025, ratified by the Cabinet recently, has provisions for birth control and translocation of animals to other places if the number of such animals in Schedule II increases in a particular region, without waiting to obtain permission from the Union government.

The Bill also suggested transferring the bonnet macaque from Schedule I to Schedule II, as the Union government now has the power to declare any wild animal in Schedule II as vermin if it is found that its number has increased exponentially.