AMMAN — Farmers in the northern
Jordan Valley asked
authorities to allow them to hunt aggressive wild boars that attack their
farms, saying that the animals, which come from the Yarmouk, Jordan River
triangle, make them incur serious material losses.
اضافة اعلان
The farmers contacted by
Jordan News say that the decisions that
prevent them from hunting boars and from staying on their farms in the late
hours of the night will only worsen the problem, as they are incapable of
protecting their farms.
Bassel Ramadneh, who owns a farm on the
Jordan River bank, told
Jordan News that farms are attacked every year by wild boars, making farmers
sustain “huge material losses”.
“These boars raid potato and corn crops, in particular, whose
season is usually in the middle of November. All farmers in the area fear
incurring great damages, and their financial situation does not allow any more
losses,” he said.
According to Ramadneh, the only possible solution is to lay
electrical wires around the farms.
“This, however, is unsafe for the people in the area”, who could
be hurt, or worse, he pointed out.
Secretary General of the Jordan Valley Farmers Union
Jamal Masalha
told
Jordan News that wild boars “attack farms at any time of the year and eat
all kinds of vegetables and fruits”.
Wild boars, he said, have a “strong sense of smell, which makes
them smell vegetables and fruits dozens of kilometers away”.
Also, “female wild boars give birth to 8–12
newborns, and the size of a sounder grows very quickly. Therefore, allowing
them to breed, rather than hunting them, will inevitably create a major crisis
for farmers who will incur great losses because of them”, Masalha said.
According to the head of the Jordan Valley Farmers Union, Adnan
Khaddam, a large number of farms are subject to attacks by wild boars, despite
“continuous appeals to the concerned authorities to take the necessary measures
to eliminate” this danger.
“The most important measures that the authorities need to take are
to allow people to hunt them or to allow farmers to stay on their farms at
night, to protect them from such attacks,” he added.
When farmers approached the Ministry of agriculture about wild
bear attacks, they were told “this is a purely security matter, and not within
our competence.”
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