The Return of Wild Boar

A non-native species, wild boars were introduced in Kashmir by Maharaja Gulab Singh. While these animals ceased to exist in the years after the Dogra rule ended, they are now staging a scary comeback.

By Chasfeeda Shah

After remaining in a state of vanishment for more than three decades, wild boar, which goes with the scientific name of ‘Sus Scrofa’, is making a scary comeback to Kashmir, triggering a distressful situation among farmers across the Valley. The Return of Wild Boar

According to wildlife experts, wild boars which are lately being spotted with greater frequency in different parts of Kashmir, including in Srinagar city, are making a return to the Valley due to a variety of factors, which include climate change. 

Although the Wildlife department has not carried out any census to determine their numbers, experts agree that the population has steadily grown in recent years with 100 boars reported to be roaming the forests of north Kashmir alone.  

The Arrival Of Boars 

To indulge his hunting instincts, the wild boars were introduced in Kashmir by Maharaja Gulab Singh, the Dogra ruler who bought Kashmir from the Britishers in 1846 for 75 lakh Nanakshahis under the Treaty of Amritsar. 

Intisaar Suhail, a wildlife warden in south Kashmir, said Dachigam became the first habitat of the wild boars where Maharaja use to go for hunting. “After independence, the population of wild boars started to decline. By the mid 1980’s, it had become a rare species,” Suhail, who has carried out a study on wild-boars, said, according to reports. 

With the end of the Dogra rule, the presence of pigs in a Muslim society triggered a cultural and religious uproar. According to the Islamic scripture, Muslims are advised to keep their distance from pigs. Dr Khursheed Ahmad, who heads the Centre for Mountain Wildlife Sciences at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology said that there were concerns “over the presence of the wild pig in the valley and due to mass agitations by the locals, steps were taken to eradicate the non-native species from the Kashmir forests.”

“The wild boars are believed to have returned to Kashmir in the aftermath of the climate change which has shot up temperature across the Himalayan region”

While these steps were successful to a large extent, the animal is being spotted with greater frequency in Kashmir these days. For the first time after many years, a team of Markhor researchers stumbled on a dead wild boar in Lachipora wildlife sanctuary of north Kashmir’s Kajinag Range in 2010, marking the return of the non-native species to the Valley. 

In 2013, a camera captured the animal in Dachigam National Park. In 2014, another wild boar was sighted in Lachipora Wildlife Sanctuary. Then again in 2018, there were more sightings. Over the years, with the sightings becoming more and more frequent, signalling an increase in the population of wild boars, it has also forced the animal to intrude into human habitations and agricultural fields for sustenance. 

But it is not only the presence of wild boars in Srinagar where the animal has been spotted at regular intervals in Dachigam Park that has got the wildlife experts curious. The appearance of the animal in north Kashmir areas has also baffled the experts and conservationists about the spread of wild boar population and their strength in Kashmir.  

More than 100 wild boars have been spotted in north Kashmir alone.

Experts stated that there are positive as well as negative connotations of increase in wild boar population. “The animal is herbivorous, which makes it relatively harmless for the human population but it can wreak havoc on agricultural plantations, orchards and saffron fields,” an official at J&K’s wildlife department said, wishing to remain anonymous. 

The official said that the animal shares its habitat and even food with hangul, the endangered species of red deer native to Kashmir. “While the wild boars serve as prey for leopards and other wild animals, it can also impact the habitat of hangul.

The government should commission a detailed study to list out the consequences of the wild boar on the existing ecosystem and wildlife habitats,” the official said. 

According to a report in local media, the wild boars were found in forests of both parts of Jammu and Kashmir, and the ones spotted recently in north Kashmir are believed to have migrated from the forests of Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir, “After the partition, the wild pigs survived in the forests of Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” the report quoted a research scientist, Dr Riyaz Ahmad, as saying.

The wild boars were found in forests of both parts of Jammu and Kashmir, and the ones spotted recently in north Kashmir are believed to have migrated from the forests of Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Many believe that the wild boars have returned to Kashmir in the aftermath of the climate change which has shot up temperature across the Himalayan region and there is a wider consensus that urgent measures need to be taken to prevent an increase in their population. 

“As climate change has led to an increase in temperature across the world, the Himalayas are the worst affected,” said an official at Kashmir University’s Earth Sciences department, wishing to remain anonymous.

“The increase in temperatures will cause irretrievable changes in the mountain ecosystem and the arrival of wild boars could be one such change. However, only a proper study can find out why the wild boar has returned to Kashmir and how its presence is going     to impact the mountain ecosystems,” he added.