Express News Service
thiruvananthapuram: Forest minister AK Sasendran, who grabbed a tiger by the tail by proposing to cull the big cats in Wayanad as a remedy for human-animal conflicts, found an unexpected ally on Wednesday in famed ecologist Madhav Gadgil.
Gadgil, chairman of the Western Ghats Environmentalists Committee, favored the idea and suggested there should be licensed hunting outside India’s national parks. “India is the only country that has legislation to protect wild animals. I think it’s irrational, absurd, unconstitutional and nothing to be proud of. No other country protects wild animals outside of its own national parks,” Gadgil told TNIE. As for licensed hunting, he said that it did not reduce the numbers of wild animals.
“The bodies of animals should be given to the local population as compensation for their suffering. In the US, Africa and Britain, people shoot wild animals. Responsible hunting is being implemented even in Scandinavia. The Ministry of Environment and Forests should have talks with the local community about how many wild animals should be Dispose of them.The license must be properly given.
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Gadgill asked: “When a human being is found to pose a threat, necessary action is taken in accordance with the relevant sections of the IPC. Why not kill a wild animal if it poses a threat to your life?”
A decentralized management plan must be implemented down to the ground level. India should implement the Biodiversity Act 2002 which gives local people the powers to protect local biodiversity.” He also said that the environmentalists who opposed the culling were conservationists. Meanwhile, forest officials said that since tigers are included in the Schedule 1 of the WPA, the government should consider rehabilitating them in other conservancies and national parks where they are less numerous.
“Kerala can approach the government of Rajasthan because Sariska National Park can accommodate a few tigers. Other states may also be interested,” the chief forest conservation officer told TNIE. However, many ecologists have opposed the idea of culling and blamed major characteristic changes that have occurred in the forests in Wayanad over the years for the disaster.
“The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, North-South Division, has very little forest cover,” said a conservationist. “In the forests and parks of Muthumalai, Bandipur, Nagarhula and Brahmagiri, the forest is becoming drier. Water scarcity has also become acute. Therefore, tigers usually come to the forests of Wayanad because it is the only place that has water and is suitable for their survival,” he said, adding that rehabilitating a tiger is not an option. Because it will lead to confrontation between the big cats on the ground, prey and mating.
Wayanad Prakriti Samrakshana President Samithi N Badusha said big cats are not a threat in Wayanad where they are deployed. He blamed organizations like Kerala Independent Farmers Association (KIFA) for spreading lies. Since 2012, six people have died in tiger attacks in Wayanad. Except for two incidents, it all happened inside the forest. More than 25,000 cattle graze inside the forest, but no untoward incident has been reported,” Badusha said.