Hunting to be allowed in MP

[msandhu]

MP may sell permits to hunt 'excess' wild animals
6 Nov 2007, Nitin Sethi,TNN

NEW DELHI: Next time Salman Khan wants to go on a hunt, Bishnois won't be a problem. The Madhya Pradesh government is finalising a licence scheme for hunting animals which damage crops such as cheetals, blackbucks and wild boars.

Along the lines of trophy hunting that some African countries follow, the state wants to sell permits to hunt down "excess" wild animals that raid crops for food.

The plan goes like this: the government will annually auction off hunting permits which a private agency can purchase or bid for. It can then sell these to allow tourists, wannabe hunters and other enthusiasts to go in for a kill of the selected animals.

The state government believes that population of some of these wild animals has been exploding and the annual crop loss exceeds Rs 100 crore. The money gathered from the auction or selling of the hunting licences, they plan, will be ploughed back into the village level joint forest management committees. This will be used to compensate farmers who lose their crop.

"It shall be done after conducting scientific studies assessing the habitat, populations of the animals and how many such animals are required in the area to breed sustainably," said a senior official from the state. The government will assess the number of animals of each problem species in an area and how many should be culled to maintain a balance between wild populations and crop losses.

The state government proposes a strict set of rules. One cannot hunt from a vehicle or close to a populated area. The animal will have to be of certain age and hunting could be banned in some seasons. One has to be accompanied by trained licenced hunters. MP is keen to even set up schools to train hunters.

"The art of hunting is a dying one, even within the forest department and we don't want just anyone to hunt," an official explained. While the state can, if it wants, allow hunting of many such animals, it would need to get the blackbuck - which too is a major crop depredator - off the Schedule I list of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. This is bound to run into rough weather with the Centre.

Some officials in the Union environment and forestry ministry have their reservations. "This is not a low-population density apartheid hit Africa where you allow trophy hunting. We have low levels of enforcement to begin with and high levels of population living in close proximity with animals," a senior ministry official said.

MP is not the only state that has been suggesting such rules with Punjab and Himachal Pradesh too complaining of increasing crop losses due to wild animals.


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Good news for hunting community. Mp Govt. considering allowing hunting to control wild population growth. It might be golden opportunity for Seasoned hunters.

Cheers
Msandhu

[art_collector]

some sense has finally prevailed.....A few years back .......wild elephants used to damage crops in Sarguja District.......and neel gais still destroy the standing crops causing immense loss to farmers....

[msandhu]

i guess the main reason for wild animals coming out of jungle cover into crops is shrinking of the forest cover. Govt. need to plan something better to increase the forest cover also.
cheers
Msandhu

[art_collector]

ya govt shud think something........unfortunately animals won"t accept using condoms ...........so the population explosion cannot be curtailed.

[Hunter]

Hi folks,

Please follow the link below! Its a bit long but makes very good reading.
This is the sort of path our Govt.should take in order to avoid the current sad state of affairs of the wildlife in our country!

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm ... -text.html

[Vikram]

I do think that the plan to implement controlled hunting is a very positive one.

AC, Re the elephants, there are no where exploding population of elephants in India. Near my native village in AP, they routinely raid crops. Most of the forests and the forest corridors are gone and leave these animals no place to roam or feed.

Best-
Vikram

[Mack The Knife]

Most of the forests and the forest corridors are gone and leave these animals no place to roam or feed.
Best-
Vikram

Spot on, Vikram! The villages have completely encircled the forests (what little is left of them) and the lack of forest corridors will eventually lead to a very poor gene pool due to constant inbreeding besides leaving some animals with no option but to raid crops or livestock.

[andy_65_in]

i think the only animals which will get shot or hunted will be the poor stoooopid NILGAI a high standard brainless dope and a nuisance ,a simple willing target. thats nothing worth it as the meat is leather tuff unless you kabab up etc etc etc etc.

[mundaire]

Moved to the Hunting etc. section....
Cheers!
Abhijeet

[snIPer]

One year on and we are just where we are on this. At least permits to hunt Wild Boar will be good for starters.

[sharan_kan]

Sniper,

Might be lost somewhere in the Sarkari Files or the increased number of cheetals, blackbucks & wild boars, might have eaten those files...

BTW, termites are the best friends of Sarkari Babus....

Cheers...