Backyard blues

Perhaps it8217;s a fallout of Munnar8217;s successful wildlife conservation drive. Apparently emboldened by the protection they enjoy, wi...

Perhaps it8217;s a fallout of Munnar8217;s successful wildlife conservation drive. Apparently emboldened by the protection they enjoy, wildlife has become virtually the bane of local vegetable growers and poultry farmers.

It8217;s as if the vegetables are grown exclusively for their delectation. Sounders of wild pigs, numbering 30 to 40, ravage potato and tapioca crops even before these are ready for harvest, leaving the area looking as though it8217;s been mechanically ploughed! And, to the dismay of flower-growers, they even relish tubers like dahlia and lily.

True trenchermen, overnight wild elephants wipe out seasonal crops like cabbage, beetroot, carrot and cauliflower that are the mainstay of local farmers who toil long and hard to raise them. It8217;s truly frustrating as there8217;s little they can do about these depredations, apart from spending sleepless nights banging kerosene tins and screaming themselves hoarse. And when chased away, the pachyderms vent their ire on the tea bushes, uprooting these by the dozen!

Further, elephants also relish plantain stems and fruit such as guavas and peaches, tearing off entire branches8212;and sometimes the tree itself8212;to get at them. I once saw a jumbo comically festooned with creepers after guzzling dozens of passion fruit from a nearby garden.

Few herbivores can resist legumes, least of all sambar and barking deer. At night they sneak into gardens to gorge on painstakingly raised beans and peas, fleeing most reluctantly at the very last minute8212;only to return once the human 8216;intruders8217; have gone away!

Jackals, mongooses and civets8212;notorious poultry-lifters8212;brazenly frequent housing colonies to spirit away unwary chickens and home-bred pigeons. Porcupines and hares, too, have a field day, or rather night, stealthily feasting on carrots and beetroots. And local strawberry growers are often dismayed to find their carefully tended crop shredded by flocks of greedy bulbuls just when it8217;s ready to be picked.

To satisfy their eclectic food preferences, Munnar8217;s wildlife is turning increasingly bold, gate-crashing into backyards and gardens at will. For long, humans have exploited wldlife. Is Munnar now seeing a reversal of roles?