Mangaluru: Wildlife activists are both enraged and dumbfounded by the recommendation of the National Wildlife Action Plan for “mercy killing” of wild animals to control their population and put an end to the rising man-animal conflict in the country.
The action plan, which provides a roadmap for wildlife conservation from 2017 to 2031, has made the suggestion, claiming that the population of some wild animals has risen so much that their diminished eco systems can no longer support them.
The Union government is said to be considering mercy killing of some animals based on its recommendation, but it has expectedly angered wildlife conservationists.
Says Mr Shashidhar Shetty, state secretary of the National Environment Care Federation (NECF), “When the number of wild animals is decreasing at an alarming rate due to poaching and their habitats are being taken over in the name of development and projects, the action plan should have recommended an end to human interference in forests. The animals are entering villages not because their population has increased, but because their habitats have been taken over by humans.”
Pointing out that wild animals like deer, sambar, wild boar and bison are already being hunted illegally , he says once mercy killing is approved they will be under more threat. “Even today the gun licence given to farmers to protect their fields from straying wild animals is used to hunt them,” he claims, adding that now they will have greater leeway to kill them.
“We completely oppose this proposal. The Union government should not go ahead with it at any cost. If mercy killing of wild animals can be recommended to stop them from entering villages, why shouldn’t there be mercy killing of people who encroach on forests?” he demands, mocking the rationale behind the idea.
