Hyderabad (Telangana) April 30: About 50 boars have been shot dead at the Dundigal Air Force Academy due to a threat posed to the trainees at the academy. The culling operation took place under the orders of the Telangana forest department. It started on Saturday night, April 28 and continued until Sunday morning. These wild boars were allegedly a trouble to the trainees and also damaged the greenery around.

Sangareddy District Forest Officer V Venkateswara Rao, had issued orders to cull the wild boars, told the Times of India, “Air Force Academy authorities submitted a representation on April 11 stating that the wild boars are attacking the trainees in the camp and also coming onto the runway posing danger to jet planes. The campus is spread over 1,500 acres and has a thick forest. I have permitted the licensed shooters to carry out culling. We haven’t tried the methods of capturing the wild boar like in Shamshabad international airport as the topography is different." Orders were given to sharpshooter Nawab Shafath Ali Khan to carry out the culling.

The population of the wild boars was rising at the academy area and it posed a threat to the people around and also they would come on the runways, thus affecting the jetplane rides. Nawab is said to have targetted only the alpha males of the boars who posed a major risk at the night time.

A similar decision was taken in the year 2015 and it had upset the conservationists as it could cause more killings of the wild animals. They suggested the problem to be tackled wisely and culling was not an option too feasible as it would lead in excessive killings of the animal. Boars have been a trouble to farms but killing them wasn't a wise solution. Not much has seemed to change, however, since the recent order allowed culling till April 30 and 50 of the animals have already been killed.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 30, 2018 11:45 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).