Srinagar, May 9 -- Ishaq bin Nabi, along with his family, slept peacefully after a day of hard work in the fields, only to wake up to their freshly sown paddy ravaged by a sounder of wild boars. Nabi says they have a chunk of some 25 kanals of land and the family had to first fence a patch of land with tin sheets and then sow the grains again. "Wild boars have wreaked havoc in the Kharif and legume land belts of Kashmir, more prominently in the north. They usually come in herds and leave the fields devastated. This didn't happen to us only but to the whole farming community in Hajin. They even debark apple trees," Nabi, 29, said. This is the story of many farmers. However, the animals' effect has not remained only on farms. An incident of the animal injuring some persons-a first of its kind-was reported in south Kashmir's Tral a few months back. "A wild boar had ascended into the Tral town and injured a few persons in January. It was the Valley's first direct human-wild boar conflict," said Suhail Wagay, wildlife warden south Kashmir. Wild boars are not native to Kashmir and are believed to have been introduced by Maharaja Gulab Singh for game hunting over 100 years ago. Historically wild boars were found in Dachigam National Park in Srinagar and the reserves around it. Since they were non-native, their population slowly declined due to the cold weather. Largely unseen since the mid-1980s, sightings have surged since 2017-18. Bashir Ahmad, another farmer from north Kashmir, said that there was a minuscule wild boar population four years back. "Now we find thousands of boars wandering the fields. "They come in groups of 30s and 40s," Ahmad, who is also a teacher, said. "If no solution is found to this menace, in the next two years, they will swarm people's courtyards and houses," he said. However, the animals have now been sighted in urban areas, including in summer capital Srinagar's 90-feet road and Soura areas. Experts highlight three primary drivers for this population explosion: climate change, with warm winters creating a hospitable environment; resource abundance in orchards and farms; and cross-border migration from forests across the Line of Control. MLA Khanyar, Ali Mohammad Sagar, raised the issue in J&K assembly in February saying that in Theed village near Dachigam National Park, boars are daily destroying crops, orchards and kitchen gardens, inflicting heavy economic losses on farmers. Samina Amin Charoo, a researcher and technical officer with the wildlife department, said they have reports of an increase in the animal population across the valley particularly in north Kashmir. She said there was no official population count so far, though they had asked some universities for help. "It is not a shy species. They are chasers. Their numbers have increased, though there is no official confirmation so far. When such a species enters an area its impact on the habitat and ecology is huge. It is a disaster. It impacts the Hangul habitat," Charoo said. Intisar Suhail, wildlife warden north Kashmir, said that the animal is a prolific breeder and can breed eight times a year. "It was introduced by the Maharaja as a game animal. Its population increased but then declined from the 1980s and was rarely sighted. But recently its population has increased owing to the warm environment and also some spillover from the other side of LoC in north Kashmir," he said. He said the first sighting of the animal after reappearing was in Uri in north Kashmir in 2017 and then its population appeared again in Dachigam park. "It was difficult to capture flocks and flocks of the animal or shift them as they will again return. Large scale culling will obviously be frowned upon by animal rights groups," he said. Explaining the animal's behaviour, Suhail said farmers need to learn to use deterrents for the animal. "These animals love paddy nurseries when we sow seeds because they are mud loving. But once the seedlings are transplanted, they cause no damage. So farmers can sow paddy seeds on community basis on a single large plot and then ward and watch in turns to protect the large plot in a village," he said. He also shared information about ultrasonic devices which run on solar or jute ropes dipped in cow dung or human hair which are found to be wild boar repellents....