Udupi: Monkeys, deer, wild boars, bison destroying crops, say Havanje residents. Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister of State for Fisheries, Youth Services and Sports, said on Monday that a proposal would be submitted to the Ministry for Forests, Environment and Ecology urging it to allow for sterilization of monkeys and then leaving them into forests as they were destroying agricultural and horticultural crops in many villages in the district. He was speaking at a special mass contact programme held at Havanje village in Udupi district.

Mr. Madhwaraj directed the officials of the Forest Department to prepare such a proposal. If an integrated proposal was submitted, a provision could be made to deal with this problem in the budget for the next fiscal year.

While forests and wildlife were essential, it was also incumbent upon the department to protect the interests of the farmers living in the villages close to forests, Mr. Madhwaraj said.

Earlier, Bhaskar Shetty, a farmer, said that nearly 2,000 monkeys from nearby forests were making life difficult for the farmers. They had destroyed nearly 1,000 tender coconuts a year. About 100 deer and a good number of wild boars and bison destroyed paddy and other saplings.

Loss of crops

The loss caused by the destruction of agricultural and horticultural crops in the gram panchayat was estimated at over Rs. 65 lakh per annum. The deer were forced to come to the fields because there was no grass growing in the nearby reserve forest. There were about 67 acacia trees there hampering the growth of grass.

Sometimes, unable to find water in the forests animals ventured in to the fields, destroying water sprinklers in the process.

Motorcyclist killed

A motorcyclist was killed recently when he was pierced by a deer’s horns. “There also were four to five leopards roaming around in the area. People fear to leave their houses after sunset,” Mr. Shetty said.

Permission needed

Mr. Madhwaraj directed the officials to cut down the acacia trees in the forest within a week. Officers of Forest Department said that there was a group of monkey catchers at Chanthar village. Their services could be utilised for catching and sterilizing the monkeys. These monkeys could then be left in dense forests in Agumbe or Kudremukh. However, the government had to permit the catching and sterilization processes first. The problem of other wild animals could be tackled by taking up solar fencing, they said.

Janardhan Tonse, zilla panchayat member, elected representatives of the gram panchayat and officers of Forest Department were present.