Nilgai go on rampage in Madhya Pradesh’s opium belt

INDORE: Nilgai in Madhya Pradesh's opium belt – Mandsaur district – have developed a taste for the drug. The animal is raiding fields, consuming poppy and running amok in the villages leaving farmers high and dry.
A nilgai can eat up to 300 'doda (opium fruit) in one night. All attempts by farmers to protect their poppy farm during harvesting season have turned futile despite fencing and constant vigil.
Virendra Singh Sisodia, a resident of Pithya Khedi village, who incurred losses in lakhs due to the rampaging nilgai said, "Earlier these animals did not eat opium. But two years ago few of them ate and now they have become addicted. They come every night to eat doda."
Describing their peculiar behavior, he said, "Normally they visit in group of 50 to 100 but when it comes to eating opium they come alone. After consuming opium they run amok and damage crop. These animals have destroyed hectares of crop in one night," he said, adding just few days ago a nilgai damaged two hectares of ‘dollar channa’ crop. They flattened the field.
Shivraj Singh, a resident of Ghatwada, fears if the menace is not curbed, in the next few years farmers will not be able harvest crop. “These bulls dodge attempts to prevent them from entering the field. They intrude as soon as we fall asleep,” he said.
Forest guard Raghuraj Singh Sisodia said in 2005 nilgai migrated to Mandsaur from Rajasthan. "They are found in large numbers in Prapatganj division of Rajasthan, 25 km from Mandsaur. Till 2008, their number was less in the area, but it increased in the last two years. They are in thousands in the region now," said Sisodia. "They attack mostly in night and of late they have become addicted to opium which has become a matter of concern," Sisodia said.
Chief conservator of forest (CCF) P C Dubey said nilgai in Mandsaur region are addicted to opium and they damage crops. "We give compensation to farmers in case it is damaged by the wild animal," Dubey said.