Kerala: Church for birth control in animals

KOZHIKODE: The Catholic Diocese of Mananthavady which is campaigning to protect the rights of farmers amid the increasing human-animal conflict in Wayanad, is fighting to bring out a system to reduce the high number of animals by introducing Animal Birth Control (ABC) project among wildlife. Former spokesperson of the diocese Fr Thomas Joseph Therakam told this newspaper that it is high time the state explore ways to reduce the multiplication of wildlife making life an ordeal for farmers. 

“In many countries certain mechanisms are in place like hunting the wildlife just before the mating season and also implementing ABC among problem making animals like wild boar and monkeys. Such countries maintain healthy animal-habitat ratio which helps smooth living of animals as well as human beings,” he said. However, environmentalists and wildlife experts dismiss the ideas as foolish and said that there is no data driven reports to substantiate the claims of increasing animal population. 

Wayanad Prakriti Samrakshana Samiti president N. Badusha told this newspaper that rather than the increase in population, the loss of quality of habitat is the main reason that forces wildlife into human settlements. “The increasing heat due to global warming, poor habitat management, ever expanding jungle weeds like lantana and mono-crop like Eucalyptus and Teak has caused much damage to the jungle,” he said, adding that  ABC among the monkey population that create disturbance in human habitats is the only exemption.  

Environmental activist Prof E. Kunhikrishnan told this newspaper that the contention of the diocese is against the facts. “Take the human population increase in the last 50 years and also study the forest cover vanished in the same period. Then you can easily diagnose the reasons for the conflict. The mushrooming of resorts and erasing out the remaining patches of greenery has caused much havoc,” he said. “It is up to man to decide how many animals he wants to retain. It is to be kept in mind that without the greenery, jungle and animals, your tourism will not sustain. So it is time to thing sensible ways of reducing the conflict,” he pointed out.