Scorpions attack in villages near Gir National park

27-06-2012
Scorpions attack in villages near Gir National park
Times of India By Himanshu Kaushik
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Scorpions-attack-in-villages-near-Gir-National-park/articleshow/14411943.cms

The villagers staying on the periphery of Gir National park and Mitiyala are worried these days as a poisonous scorpions.

This is the first time that the scorpions have surfaced in large number.

Officials in the forest department said on the onset of Monsoon, large number of maggots surface in the village making life difficult. But this time it is the scorpions which have surfaced in large number. Officials said that usually the farmers are not used to wearing shoes or even slippers when they get out of their houses, but with these poisonous insect surfacing, the farmers are forced to buy rainy shoes.

He said that at least eight to ten incidents of people getting bitten by scorpions have been reported in the villages around Mitiyala and Gir National Park.

Hasmukh Patel a resident on the periphery of the village says that "We farmers can wear shoes and go out, but what about the cattle, there is no protection for them. In Mitiyala along there are about 10 incidents where cattle have died after they bitten by these scorpion."

Patel says that he too had a marrow escape as he was wearing his shoes. People have stopped going out in the night as these insects are not visible during night.