From draco@VSNL.COM Sun Oct  3 14:15:59 2004
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 08:10:44 +0530
From: Draco Films 
To: nathistory-india@Princeton.EDU
Subject: Re: Punjab may allow hunting of blue bull, wild boar

    [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ]
    [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set.  ]
    [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ]

Any hunting, any sustainable use of wildlife has to be done on the basis of
good status information, good planning and management. Farmers all over
India have wild boar problems and many have big problems with wild ungulates
as well. There are certainly inherent problems with allowing hunting of even
nuisance animals but there could be bigger problems if farmers are told they
can't protect their crops and they will take things into their own hands. As
usual, it is only too easy for people who live in cosy urban apartments to
pass judgement and influence policy that affects rural people who live with
wildlife. The problem is, though the heart might be in the right place their
lack of experience on the ground creates problems rather than solving them.
The case of Punjab and nilgai/wild boar is a perfect example. Yes, it is
easy to protest the allowing of hunting and with the various welfare lobbies
in Delhi probably fairly easy to stop it.

  But let's look at what will happen if cutting numbers of crop raiders is
not officially sanctioned. The standard method of killing wild boar where
shooting is not allowed is by mouth bombs. These are made by tightly
wrapping a wad of black powder (easily available from quarry blasters) with
a few flint (or other) pebbles with a piece of old cloth. Add a piece of
dried fish to the packet and scatter the bombs where you know wild boar come
at night. They smell the fish, bite the bomb and the friction of the pebbles
sets off the black powder. Though the bombs may kill a small pig outright
I've seen a big boar with his lower jaw blown off alive and suffering
horribly. For ungulates like nilgai, chinkara, blackbuck and deer  the steel
wire noose is the trick. It takes a little skill to put the noose in the
right place but it effectively (and slowly) strangles any animal that gets
caught in it (even tigers have been killed in these nooses and we saw an
elephant with a crippling leg injury from a wire noose). Is this what we
really want?

It is really gratifying to note that wildlife is bouncing back in some parts
of the country thanks to the efforts of a lot of hard working people but
this means that the situation we are creating has to be dealt with. There is
no simple answer to the problems of crop raiding by wild animals but it is
worth debating it and coming up with sensible ideas as to how to help
farmers.  If shooting is one answer then it has to be done right. Using the
right gun and training in how to use the gun is all part of it. Since Joint
Forestry Management has become quite a successful way of protecting yet
using the forest resources in a sustained manner why not explore Joint
Wildlife Management. The bottom line is that rural India will not be
dictated by urban idealists (on either side of the fence). Let us try to
evolve from being simplistic and get realistic. What we need are good,
imaginative ideas and the energy to get them working in the field. Apologies
for the long-windedness but this is an issue that has a lot of implications
for conservation in India.

Rom Whitaker

_______________________________________
Janaki Lenin/Rom Whitaker
Draco Films, Draco Books
P.O. Box 21
Chengalpattu 603001
India
Ph # +91-4114-220195
www.snakesofindia.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Natural History of South Asia - General discussion and research
[mailto:nathistory-india@Princeton.EDU]On Behalf Of Pankaj Sekhsaria
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2004 12:47 PM
To: nathistory-india@Princeton.EDU
Subject: Punjab may allow hunting of blue bull, wild boar


THE TRIBUNE
Aug 20
Punjab may allow hunting of blue bull, wild boar; Claims their population
needs to be culled

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 19
The Punjab Wildlife Department is in the process of finalising a proposal to
permit hunting of blue bulls and wild boars in the state. It claims the
population of the two animals is in excess of the required number and
therefore needs to be culled in the interest of the farming community.
The move is however not backed by a scientific survey as to the number of
these animals. In might thus be unable to scientifically determine the
numbers that need to be culled. "It is a smokescreen for legalizing hunting
in a state where a large number of animal species are already endangered,"
says Dr Sandeep Jain, a wildlife conservationist and head, People for
Animals, Ludhiana.
According to the plan for proposed culling, Punjab is likely to authorise
SDMs to issue permits to hunters identified by panchayats of villages where
the crop is being affected. The Chief Wildlife Warden, Punjab, when
contacted, said, "We are still considering the proposal of issuing shooting
permits. We may also provide compensation to the farmers. Moreover, Punjab
will not be the first state to allow culling. UP, Madhya Pradesh and
Rajasthan have standing orders on shooting of blue bulls. We will determine
the exact number that needs to be killed. Recently, we had asked our filed
staff to conduct a census. We have found that the blue bulls are in excess
in Mansa, Muktsar, Patiala, Sangrur, Bathinda districts."
As per the official estimates, there are about 7,000 blue bulls in Punjab.
Their number needs to be culled in the interest of economic activity.
However, conservationists feel that this figure is inflated. Many Wildlife
experts favour compensation schemes for farmers, rather than culling by
shooting. They feel that in the absence of a proper census, it would be
difficult to determine the number of animals to be killed. Also there are
fears that if shooting permits are issued to individuals, it would be
difficult to ascertain that the same is used to kill the animal for which it
has been issued.
Says Lt-Gen Baljit Singh, who has been following this issue for long now,
"When there is no census how will they determine how many need to be killed
? Also, how will they maintain the required male-female ratio ? Issuing
permits to all and sundry would open the floodgates for hunting."
The Chief Wildlife Warden, however, allays these fears, saying that the laws
would be very strict. "The killed animal will be handed over to the Wildlife
Department. Our staff will check that rules are not flouted." Sources in the
Wildlife Department meanwhile say the Department lacks the infrastructure
required to ensure such things. It also does not have enough vehicles.
Hunting was banned by an Act of Parliament in 1991. Only certain animals
could be hunted after a provincial government followed some procedures to
allow the same once they become excess in number and caused damage to crops.
Later, some states allowed shooting of animals to save farmlands.
Punjab is now framing laws to hunt blue bulls and wild boars, but whether
they are followed is difficult to say. As a conservationist puts it, "Once
people have the permit, they can move into the forest and hunt. Let us not
forget our forests have several endangered species like barking deer,
sambhar, hog deer and black buck. Also, the blue bull is native to India. I
don't think killing of blue bulls is needed. There are 12,000 villages in
Punjab and I am sure the number of animals does not exceed that number,
which means there is basically one animal per village

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa,
908 Deccan Gymkhana,
Pune 411004
India
Tel: + 91 20 25654239 / 25675450
Fax: 25654239
Email: pankajs@vsnl.com