Conservation is a very complex term to be understood and it involves an important factor in the name of animal management rather than animal welfare. While welfare of the animal - be it big or small - involves love and care, science and research play major roles along with love and care in the management of animals.
When problem arises because of an individual species, culling has been proposed by various researches to control the population and maintain the carrying capacity of the landscape, and it has been widely accepted in many regions. Africa has implemented culling effectively and has maintained it well for many years.
However, in a country like India where the religious sentiments of people are closer towards animals, killing an individual so as to manage the entire species would not be much accepted and the example of Nilgai in the North is befitting of this statement. In other words, not just religious sentiments, in a place where animal problem be it by elephants or boars, is inadvertently caused by humans, it is more sensible to address the cause of the problem than the outcome of the problem.
Habitat degradation by and large has been one of the factors that had driven away animals to cultivated land from forests and wild boars have caused way too much damage for farmers forcing them to ask the Government to cull them. But the decision was delayed for many years and the Government had finally decided to kill the animal that creates problem.
Though there are many rules to be followed including the non-killing of lactating females, animals that have scurried into the jungle and the carrying out of killing by forest staff after thorough investigation of the damage caused and frequency of visit, some fear that the order would also increase poaching indirectly. Yet, the order clearly states that only forest staff should carry out the process and the carcass should be buried or burnt.
Understandably, with forested lands being encroached upon, most of the herbivore and especially elephant boars in fragmented landscape are forced to live on cultivated land for food. Either eradicate the animal from that landscape or clear out encroachment and allow the landscape to grow back are things to be come to a conclusion, but how far would killing help is an entirely different argument.
If the system is to be effective, it has to be implemented properly abiding by the rules and by far, with the department not being able to stop poaching wild boars using country made bomb, despite the killers being known to department staff and arrests are rare, the implementation is certainly a question mark.
The process of getting an order from the department is also lengthy as the farmer should justify the raid by boars. With all being said and done, to how far the culling proves effective without addressing the issue is altogether a different scenario.