According to the Wild Life Act of 1972, the hunting of animals is prohibited in India. This makes sense in the large, urban cities of our country where the concept of poaching seems to be foreign and outdated. However, research has shown that local hunting is quite popular in India. Being considered ‘recreation’ has caused this immense issue to slip through the cracks and is slowly affecting us.
India is an incredibly biodiverse country with numerous unique animals native to its land, something hunters are slowly taking away. Royal Bengal Tigers are one of the first animals that come to mind when we think of creatures that are endangered. They, along with the Asiatic lion, horned Rhinoceros, Kashmir Stag, and other such animals have been consistently hunted throughout the years for the goods they provide such as their fur and horns. Hunting, however, is not limited to affecting species that are directly targeted. The immensely interconnected ecosystem relies on all the different parts in it to function. Even a lack of predators causes an imbalance, something which could disrupt a whole community of animals.
The biologically unique North-East India is covered with vast lands of forest and is home to a vast number of species. It also homes the people who kill them. All of the beauty and richness bring visitors into the area and greatly help the Indian economy. Naturally, the slow but steady degradation of the ecosystem affects the economy. It is incredibly easy to point fingers at the hunters of North-East India. However, this is not an unfixable problem. The reason that hunting is so prevalent is simply because of gaps in the knowledge of people. Adequate education is nothing that cannot be provided. Through the help of awareness, there is no doubt that the number of hunts that occur can be reduced tenfold. Nobody is perfect but everyone can improve.
There will always be opposers who argue that hunting can be done as a sport, or that it can help improve the economy of a country. All of them miss out on an important fact though, animals are not equated to just another number on a graph. They do not deserve to be killed for the small price of recreation or a sport. No living creature’s life can ever be repaid through money. Paradoxically, these people of our country, who live in it, are also the ones who are ripping its beauty apart hunt by hunt. One animal can shake an entire ecosystem and one ecosystem can shake a country.
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