Wild boar menace in Malda

Manas R Bannerjee

MALDA, Aug 30: 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 jobAccording 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.