Liberals, stop this farce: India needs animal culling
A couple of days ago, I watched a debate on one of India's leading news channels. A handful of liberals, a couple of politicians and an actor whose wildlife expertise comes from, as far as I can see, visiting various national parks and standing under a tree or two, were discussing the hot topic of animal culling.
As we know, the Himachal Pradesh government has allowed culling of monkeys and the environment ministry is talking of allowing the culling/killing of certain species of wild animals officially – such as the wild boar and the blue bull (better known as the nilgai, though it has nothing to do with the "sacred" cow; it is an antelope) – because these animals are becoming a menace for farmers.
As a farmer as well as a naturalist who has worked in India’s biggest national parks, most recently Kanha, I was deeply interested in the solutions on offer by the esteemed panelists.
The level of debate, however, was of shockingly low quality. The knowledge (or the lack of it) of the animal "activists" on the show was evident right from the start when they called these animals endangered. The nilgai is anything but endangered! Far from endangered, wild boars and nilgais are dangerous and their numbers are out of control.
Hearing the silly arguments, this farmer has had to take to the pen. Dear liberals, sitting in air-conditioned offices and studios (which cause environment damage of far greater proportions), do you have any idea what farmers go through because of your beloved animals?
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| The nilgai is anything but endangered. |
The destruction these animals are causing every day, the heavy losses they are inflicting on the poor farmer are staggering – if it takes four months for a farmer to sow crops, it takes four hours for two aggressive quarrelling wild boars to destroy it completely. Can you imagine the farmer’s desolation? Does he not have enough problems out of his control such as the elusive rains?
It is easy to comment on the morality of other people when all you have to do is wave hands in the air and sound morally superior – you are not the one directly affected. The reality on the ground is totally different.
Being a farmer, I was appalled at the lack of empathy these activists had for my fraternity. These are the same people who will lobby against the government of the day for doing nothing for the farmer – the duplicity of the Indian liberal is laughable.
As a naturalist, who has saved many injured animals and who has worked on the field, I can empathise with people who want to save animals, but are animal lives more important than human lives?
I have been racking my brain for a solution, and was hoping these intelligent people will have some, but I only heard inane statements like "killing animals is wrong", or "if animals could vote, we wouldn't be talking like this". I mean, seriously? Is this the best India can come up with?
In that case, I have a solution to offer. Since animal activists are so worried about the well-being of nilgais and wild boars, I propose we round up all these animals and leave them in the tender, loving care of these champions of animal rights. I am sure they will be more than happy to oblige.
On a more serious note, making a villain out of people like that "Nawab" on the show who has been employed by numerous state governments to bring down dangerous animals speaks of sheer ignorance. It is easy to sit in a studio (air conditioned) and jeer at people like Nawab but does anyone in Delhi understand the meaning of losing someone they love to a random, meaningless, attack by an elephant gone rogue?
Will you protest the culling of monkeys in Shimla if your precious one-year-old was clawed mercilessly by a monkey who thought, wrongly, you were going to hurt it?
Are we really unable to think of humans other than our own families with any empathy at all? Everyone finds it easier to champion the cause of animals because it is "cool" to do so but someone has to stick their neck out and tell it like it is.
The amount of air-time given to the farmers during this television debate was negligible. The average farmer in India is and has always been more eco-friendly and environmentally conscious than most of these self-proclaimed animal activists can ever hope to be.
If these are the kind of animal rights advocates India is producing, then it makes me shudder to think of the bleak future of Indian wildlife. It is quite apparent that these people lack the expertise and decisiveness required to handle delicate but urgent issues. A holier than thou approach to a crisis always does more harm than good.
Just shed the mask of drawing room politeness and face it. The only real solutions are long term. We need to control and contain our population. More and more animals are getting displaced from their natural habitat due to human encroachment leading to the man-animal conflict we see today.
Another long term solution would be to create more protected areas and sanctuaries for animals, or relocate these animals to already protected areas which don’t have a very high density of wildlife. But till we get these things in place, which will take decades, we can’t just let animals wreak havoc in farmer’s lives.
However tough a call it is, we have to take it: As an animal lover, I know the only solution at hand is the culling of these wild animals. For a change the government is taking a step in the right direction – let it do its work.
In our overzealous endeavours to protect wild animals, we cannot overlook the plight of the poor farmer who has a family to feed, and has children whom he wants to educate, whom he wants to see on television one day, sitting in an air-conditioned studio perhaps. Hopefully our next generation will talk more sense.