The hunters become the hunted: Indian state sanctions shooting animal poachers

NEW DELHI — A western Indian state has declared war on animal poaching by sanctioning its forest guards to shoot hunters on sight in an effort to curb rampant attacks against tigers, elephants and other wildlife.

The government in Maharashtra says injuring or killing suspected poachers will no longer be considered a crime.

Forest guards should not be “booked for human rights violations when they have taken action against poachers,” Maharashtra Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam said Tuesday. The state also will send more rangers and jeeps into the forest, and will offer secret payments to informers who give tips about poachers and animal smugglers, he said.

India holds about half of the world’s estimated 3,200 tigers in dozens of wildlife reserves set up since the 1970s. But illegal poaching remains a serious threat, with tiger parts sought in traditional Chinese medicine fetching high prices on the black market.

According to the Wildlife Protection Society of India, 14 tigers have been killed by poachers in India so far this year — one more than for all of 2011. The tiger is considered endangered, with its habitat range shrinking more than 50 per cent in the last quarter-century and its numbers declining rapidly from the 5,000-7,000 estimated in the 1990s, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Eight of this year’s tiger poaching deaths in India occurred in Maharashtra, including one whose body was found last week chopped into pieces with its head and paws missing in Tadoba Tiger Reserve. Forest officials have also found traps in the reserve, where about 40 tigers live.

Tiger parts used in traditional Chinese medicine are prized on the black market, but dozens of other animals are also targeted by hunters across India, including one-horned rhinos and male elephants prized for their tusks, and other big cats like leopards hunted or poisoned by villagers afraid of attacks on their homes or livestock.

Encounters are rare, however, between guards and poachers who generally hunt the secretive and nocturnal big cats at night, according to Maharashtra’s chief wildlife warden, S.W.H. Naqvi.

“We hardly ever come face-to-face with poachers,” he said Wednesday, predicting few instances where guards might fire at suspects.

Instead, he predicted that the state’s offer to pay informers from a new government fund worth about 5 million rupees ($90,000) would be more effective in curbing wildlife crime. “We get very few tips, so this will really help,” Naqvi said.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/23/the-hunters-become-the-hunted-indian-state-sanctions-shooting-animal-poachers/

Hunter-wallahs

Hunting, like prostitution, is one of India's worst-kept secrets. Everyone knows it's illegal. And everyone knows it's going on. In the Northeast, hunting is prevalent amongst both tribals and the Army. And in Kerala's Periyar Tiger Reserve, rampant poaching of tuskers has dramatically skewed the sex ratio, with one male elephant for 101 females. 

These are amongst a series of startling findings thrown up by a research paper on hunting by three scientists - Nandini Velho, research associate at National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore and a doctoral student at Australia's James Cook University ; Krithi Karanth, assistant director of the Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore; and William F Laurance, an eminent tropical scientist at James Cook University. 

The scientists plunged into a meta-analysis of 143 studies on hunting in India in a bid to give shape to the shadowy world that plagues the country's wildlife. 

Their study shows that hunting was reported in 23 of the 28 states and 7 Union Territories, with 114 species of mammals reportedly hunted in the country. 

Besides pushing animals to extinction, hunting also changes the way they behave. For instance, encounter rates (the chance of spotting an animal or signs of it) of daytime animals declined where guns were used to hunt them during the day. Likewise, encounter rates ofnocturnal animals reduced where guns were used at night. 

While much has been written about tiger conservation, Velho cites the plight of other mammals. For instance, the widespread use of traps for otters has led to their extinction in several areas. Its skin, says Velho, is prized in Europe. 

According to wildlife conservationist Belinda Wright, the last 18 months have seen an increase in hunting for meat,with a spike in demand in towns around protected areas. Wright says the trend has much to do with economics. Highly priced domestic meat has spawned a market for wild meat, which is found to be cheaper. 

While hunting happens across the country, the methods vary. "Hunters in Uttaranchal used guns (42%) and snares (48%) in roughly equal frequency; in Himachal Pradesh hunters used exclusively guns. In Karnataka, most hunters (94%) used home-made muzzle-loading guns although use of snares was also reported," says the study. Velho says certain communities such as the Nishi tribe in Arunachal Pradesh have banned the use of locally made trap scalled Komiya,which have often caused injuries to people, too. "The fine for laying these traps is one mithun (a bison-like animal). They do, however, allow hunting with guns," adds Velho, who has worked extensively in Arunachal, where hunting is deeply embedded in the local culture. "Even the belts used for clothes are made of animal skin." 

Tribals aren't the only ones hunting in the Northeast. "Army forces posted on India's northern borders in the Indo-Myanmar /eastern Himalayan region are also reported to engage actively in hunting," says the report. "Many Army officers wear musk (a perfume extracted from the musk deer)," says Velho. Government officers, too, are involved in hunting. "A lot of the killings carried out by locals are either sold or gifted to officers," she adds. 

The report says hunting is particularly widespread in Arunachal, which lies within the India-Myanmar and eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspots. As many as 94 mammal species are reportedly hunted in these two regions. "This figure is considerably higher than the 33 species reported to be hunted across the Western Ghats, the 22 hunted species recorded in the western Himalayas, and zero hunted species reported from the Nicobar Islands," says the study. This may be due to the fact that the eastern Himalayas are home to more species than the Western Ghats, says Velho. 

Environmentalist Uttara Mendiratta, a consultant with Freeland Foundation says hunting in the Northeast gets a boost because the Southeast Asian market for wildlife trade is close at hand. "After hunting an animal in Northeast India, it's very easy to cut across the border to Myanmar where there is a ready market. It is not the same in the Western Ghats where it is harder to sell wildlife in an open market," says Mendiratta, who has been involved in underground operations in China and Tibet to study the illegal animal market. While Tibet was once a large market for illegal animal products from India, there has been a marked drop in demand after the Dalai Lama forbade the use of such products amongst Tibetans . His is amongst several initiatives to curb hunting. In the Northeast, locals from tribes known for their hunting prowess have been roped in for wildlife conservation.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/special-report/Hunter-wallahs/articleshow/13310523.cms

Army jawans found cooking chinkara meat in Barmer army camp

In a shocking incident, at least five army jawans participating in the ongoing Sudarshan Shakti exercise on the India-Pak border hunted three endangered chinkaras (Indian gazelle) in the Nimbla Sajitala area of Barmer's Sheo tehsil on Friday.

"After being informed by the villagers, officials from the state forest department rushed to the camp and recovered the severed heads of the gazelles besides uncooked meat," P.R. Bhadu, territorial district forest officer (DFO) of Barmer, said.

The five army jawans have been identified as subedar Gopilal, hawaldar D.R. Nath, nayak N. Sarkar, lance nayak P.R. Pardesi and sipahi D.R. Naidu. Bhadu said the jawans fled the camp when the forest officials raided it.

They also left behind the army vehicle that was used in the hunting. The vehicle, which had bloodstains on it, was seized and released only after an examination by the forensic experts.

Defence spokesperson S.D. Goswami said a court of inquiry was ordered to investigate into the matter. He said if the accused were found guilty, they would be dealt with sternly.

Calling it a very serious offense, Bhadu said the recovery of the hunted chinkara- that too in a "langar" (kitchen) of the army camp - was unprecedented. The meat was being cooked when the forest department officials raided the place.

The accused have been booked under sections 9 to 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, which provides for a maximum punishment of seven years, including financial penalty.

Hunting of chinkara is banned under Schedule I of the Act. The law also prohibits hunting of blackbuck, cheetah, elephant, rhinoceros, snow leopard, tiger, lion and several other wild animals.

Member of the state committee for wildlife and environment Rajpal Singh pointed out that the locals had been complaining for long that the army officers were frequently hunting the endangered species but no action could be taken for want of evidence. "But now with the undisputed evidence available, the complaints had been proved correct," he said, adding that the senior officers of the army should look into the matter and ensure that such incidents did not occur in future.

This is not the first time that the hunting of an endangered species has created a controversy. The late Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi had to face court proceedings after he killed a blackbuck in 2005 and then absconded as a fugitive. In another case in 1998, Bollywood actor Salman Khan was booked when he killed two blackbucks in Bhawad near Jodhpur.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/indian-army-chinkaras-salman-khan/1/161633.html

Animal Rights group for action against wildlife law violation

An animal rights organisation has complained to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests regarding departmental inaction in cases of blatant violation of wildlife laws in Dehradun.

In a letter submitted to the State, PCCF RBS Rawat, People For Animals, Uttarakhand member secretary and co-opted member of Animal Welfare Board of India, Gauri Maulekhi, have demanded action against officials who delay and provide time for the accused to escape action.

She pointed out that carcasses of 27 snakes including a freshly killed King Cobra were recovered from the Toxicology Lab of the Himalaya Institute of Medical Sciences on October 4 following which a case was registered and the lab was sealed.

After more than 40 days of the recovery, not a single arrest has been made by the Dehradun divisional forest officer in a case that calls for a non-bailable and cognizable action against the suspects under Section 9 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.

The HIMS dean, Vijendra Chauhan, Vice-Chancellor Vijay Dhasmana and the head of department for Toxicology and Forensics Sanjay Das have not been arrested even after they were charged with ‘hunting’ of extremely endangered animals, the highest offense that can be committed under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.

Earlier, a signed testimony of the dean was submitted to the DFO stating that HIMS releases animals of exotic species with laboratory induced diseases into the forest near Chilla range but no action has been taken in this case as well.

On October 18, a captive soft shell turtle (Schedule 1, Wildlife Protection Act 1972) was recovered from a house on Mussoorie Road. The turtle along with other recovered animals was taken by the police to the Rajpur Thana, where it was handed over to the Forest Department.

In this case too the DFO made no arrests. Such inaction not only encourages the offenders but also shows the officer’s inefficiency, averred Maulekhi.