wild pigs and monkeys are the talk of the day goas cm is pondering on declaring wild pigs as vermin while orchard owners are asserting that monkeys too are a pest these are two of the many animals involved in the humongous humanwildlife conflict haunting the indian countryside a conflict in which thousands of people are killed each year and losses of property run to tens of thousands of crores the roots of this problem go back more than a thousand years with the conquest of britain by william the conqueror in 1066 he parcelled englands land among a handful of feudal lords these lords enclosed the village commons impoverishing the peasantry all humans barring rare exceptions have indulged in hunting since our species originated as group hunters three lakh years ago nonetheless the domineering british lords reserved hunting for themselves branding peasants hunting to fill their bellies as poachers and summarily hanging them the fallout of these authoritarian measures was that britains forests and wildlife were wiped out by the 14th century when the british became lords of india they were intent on looting its resources their tool in this plunder was the forest department an agency created to confiscate the tree wealth nurtured by our farmers and forestdwellers by taking over community landsthe result mirrored what had happened in britain and indias forest wealth was rapidly depleted by the end of 19th century goa was spared this fate under the portuguese rule the portuguese also tried to dismantle community control but since this led to serious loss of agricultural production and revenue they permitted its continuance so goa retained its green mantle till the end of portuguese rule in 1961 on being integrated into the indian union the new regime has consistently attempted to take power away from people and dismantle comunidades triggering an erosion of goas natural heritagethe foresters with their colonial legacy stepped into goa clear cutting natural forests to raise exotic tree plantations with the promulgation of wildlife protection act in 1972 the entire countryside came in the foresters grip with farmers and forestdwellers becoming victims of conflict with wildlife goans too are suffering with wild pigs monkeys and gaur the major problem species inflicting huge losses of crops and livestockindias wildlife protection act is unique in the world no other country bans hunting outside national parks and game reserves sweden abounds in wildlife it treats it as a renewable resource utilising it through properly regulated hunting as our bizarre law stands people are not free to defend themselves against marauding animals as even driving them out of their homes and crop fields needs official permission and if they so much as injure a wild pig while defending their crops they are liable to be prosecuted as criminals yet the indian penal code sections 100 and 103 sanction voluntarily causing of death or other harm to the wrongdoer if an assault by the wrongdoer may reasonably cause the apprehension that it will lead to death