Thiruvanathapuram: How often do you hear a naturalist batting for culling? Peter Smetacek – who did pioneering work in establishing a connection between colonisation of moths in the Western Himalayas and climate change – is of the opinion that culling is important. A bit of background. He is based in Bhimtal in Uttarakhand, close to which hundreds of villages have become empty because of wild boar and monkey pestilence. “A peasant who sees his crop being destroyed cannot do anything to the wild boar as the government will punish them,” he says.
A member of the State Board for Wildlife, he was one among those who said wild boars and rhesus monkeys should be declared vermin. He was asked about the culling of stray dogs. He replied with an analogy. “Normally a tree produces thousands of seeds; one seed is supposed to survive. The idea that no life should be allowed to die, and life must be prolonged forever is what causes issues,” he says. He is in town upon the invitation of Resmi and Aditya Varma of Travancore Royal Family, who are holding an exhibition of photographs and paintings at Kanakakkunnu Palace. His book A Naturalist's’ Guide to the Butterflies of India was launched at the show. When asked if sterilisation of rhesus monkeys won’t be enough, he pointed out that the sterilisation drives are yet to bring out any results.
“One alpha male monkey fertilises all the females in its family. If it is sterilised, and all the mothers miss their cycle of birth, the females would move to others,” he says. On paper sterilising the mothers look fine, but in practice, it doesn’t work, he adds. He talked about the old animal management practices in India. “It was only when the hunting stopped in 1972, that we have no census of the herbivores now,” he says. Hunters appointed by the Forest would kill animals when the population would exceed in an area.
