Hunting of Wild Animals

Hunting all across the world is used as a medium of trading and using hunted animals for the commercialization process and to earn a huge amount of profit from that hunted animal trading is rampant.

Hunting

Hunting means some type of activity that involves mostly 3 processes i.e. Seeking, Pursuing and killing wild animals for their purpose of trading, commercialization, and earning a huge amount of profit from their body and its parts.

Concept of hunting emerged 3 million years ago and it is existing till now across the globe. Earlier during the king’s rule hunting was considered as a privilege of nobility and noble family and they used to do hunting in their free time as a source of enjoyment for them.

If we look at the definition of hunting according to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 ‘Hunting’ includes:

Capturing, killing, poisoning, snaring and trapping of any wild animal and every attempt to do so.
Driving any wild animal for any of the purposes specified i.e. Trading, commercializing.
Destroying or taking any parts of the animal or any species.

But soon after the French revolution, hunting was made illegal which caused damage to the ecosystem of the forest and also led to endangered species. Earlier hunting was considered as a spare time activity and sign of nobility but now the government has made many laws related to prohibition of hunting which regulate the practice.

Protection of Animals

Although wildlife protection came into force in the late 1970s, hunting for subsistence dropped in mainland India only when farmed meat became easily available. Cultural disdain for hunting may have also played a role. In the Northeast, however, it continues to be a way of life.

Hunting provides their main source of meat, recreation, medicine, and ornaments. Even if farmed meat became available, most hunters say they love the spirit of the chase and the gamey flavour of wild meat to give up hunting. When it is so ingrained in their culture, it is a challenge to convince them of the need to desist from taking wildlife.

There’s unlikely to be one solution for the entire region. Getting communities to eschew hunting may need to work program by program, location by location. But for many forests, time may be running out. Yet, there is no option but to negotiate and work with tribal communities, as more than half the forest land is owned by them. Instead of being modern-day missionaries, conservationists can at best be the facilitators, providing advice, expertise and new imaginative ideas while inspiring communities to make a commitment to protect their biodiversity.