Hunting & India

[Bhraaz Kashyap]

It is absolutely no news to us that the Indian subcontinent has had a rich and mutli-faceted history of hunting. The situation now is quite the opposite; a total ban on trophy hunting overall. But it is clear that the hunter's legacy lives on- royal hunting trophies and rifles, hunting lodges (many of them now luxury ecotourism villas) and even active hunters. We have quite the few of them in this forum already.

But a lot of it gets pushed away to the sidelines as hunting is not the most fashionable of topics in the social weave of India. So even benevolent acts like culling problem elephants/leopards/tigers is usually not met with public pride or celebration; rather the opposite.

Thus I would like to ask, are there any Indian (or indian-origin) hunters here who are still practicing this art, either at home or abroad?

 

[PerH]

Hunting is banned in India since the so called Wildlife Protection Act-1972.

Only culling of Nilgai and wild boar is permitted there since 2015. Some states permit the wild boar meat to be taken for private consumption. The Nilgai meat can't be eaten. It's all buried under the ground and left to rot.

Private hunters can no longer go after rogue elephant or man eating tigers or leopards. Either police or forest department people have to do it (due to pressure from anti hunters).

If anybody on this forum would admit to recently hunting anything other than Nilgai or wild boar during government sanctioned culls, then they would be admitting to poaching (as per Indian laws) on social media.

 

[Bhraaz Kashyap]

Hunting is banned in India since the so called Wildlife Protection Act-1972.

Only culling of Nilgai and wild boar is permitted there since 2015. Some states permit the wild boar meat to be taken for private consumption. The Nilgai meat can't be eaten. It's all buried under the ground and left to rot.

Private hunters can no longer go after rogue elephant or man eating tigers or leopards. Either police or forest department people have to do it (due to pressure from anti hunters).

If anybody on this forum would admit to recently hunting anything other than Nilgai or wild boar during government sanctioned culls, then they would be admitting to poaching (as per Indian laws) on social media.

Of course, that is the law. But that is not what I am asking.

Indian hunters do still hunt in Africa and elsewhere, where trophy hunting is legal. There is a general lack of clarity on this; kept private due to public scrutiny maybe? I'm not qualified enough to comment on this.

I ask because I have worked both in the Indian conservation landscape as well the the European Game management scene. The wealth of knowledge and information from hunters is a lacking resource in Eastern schools of conservation; thus my curiosity.

 

[mark-hunter]

I will add some more.
There was few forum members, who described hunting in India, on this forum. In the times when this was legal.
Some of them faced internet attacks, provocation and bullying from some indians following their posts.
You can easily find the reports on the forum

In my opinion, Indian people who are interested in hunting in India should start an organsation and start promoting hunting in public, as a form of conservation.
Inida has NRA - national rifle assosiation, I am not sure if they can help with this initiative.

And then, hopefully to start somewhere some pilot hunitng project. Try to participate in control of dangerous animals. Or Nilgai and boar culling.
All depending what legal solution can be used. But in any case make the hunting cause public, and well represented in public media in a positive light, and with scientific background.

i am not sure, what are the legal differences amongst various Indian states on this matter, but maybe starting this project could depend on choice of local conditions.

 

[PerH]

If they still live in India and have any common sense, then they should keep quiet about it.

Indian PAC hunter Nawab Shafath Ali Khan shot a man eating tigress on government orders recently. After he he did it, Indian media crucified him. They named the tigress "Avni" and all sorts of idiots started painting their faces with black stripes and publicly crying for the hunter to be jailed. There was even a court case against him which luckily got dismissed eventually.

If someone can face all that India just for saving human lives, it's a no brainer what Indian masses will do to a person when they find out that they hunt "Recreationally".

 

[Bhraaz Kashyap]

That is the crux of the issue: the socio-cultural dynamic of India prevents such activities from even being portrayed in a neutral light. Avni's case was the straw that broke the camel's back and caused a ban on lethal methods of tiger control over the backlash and complications that followed.

Although there has been some interesting devopments recently- the rising human-animal conflict, a gowing Indian WIldlife Economy based organisation and last but not the least, the CIC's (whom I represent here) gowing interests in India might cause some actual growth to take place in this sector. It is a fragile act to balance both social and scientific perspectives, but steps in the right direction imo.

 

[grand veneur]

Most of the population of India are Hindus. I don't know how far they still follow their religion, but if that is still the case, then there is certainly no rational explanation for them why hunting can be useful for anything. The Muslims certainly have no problem with it, hunting continues in Pakistan. I don't know the situation in Bangladesh.

 

[PerH]

The ban could be reversed very quickly. All you have to do is make Indian media people and politicians sitting in the cities with their armchair expert views on wildlife management, actually come and live for a while in areas raked by human wildlife conflict.

Personally, I don't see that happening anytime soon

 

[grand veneur]

In all of these countries of South and Southeast Asia, the cultural and especially the religions must be given great consideration. This does not just apply to India. We cannot compare this with the mentality of the population in our countries.

 

[grand veneur]

Hunting in India is no longer possible, but I have the manual for it.

 

[Bhraaz Kashyap]

Hunting in India is no longer possible, but I have the manual for it.

View attachment 657226

I would say keep it close. There might be a time soon when we need to crack it open!