and the USA would love to have them!
This is not pie in the sky or a joke, it
is a win win proposition for all.
No one in Sri Lanka realizes that we
have over 5,000 hunting parties going hunting every day. They hunt deer,
monitors, porcupine, sambhur, wild boar, and even monkeys, and unfortunately,
traps are used that kill people and kill leopard as well. Of the daily hunting
parties, only 10% are successful, as often they return empty handed, due to the
game, already decimated by over hunting.
One thing is clear about the hunters,
not only do they do it as there is a big pay day if they bag a deer or sambhur
as game meat commands a high price in hotels catering for locals, and for the
top brass of the armed forces who pay top dollar for game, most often the
hunters only survive at best and occasionally have to pay protection money to
the Police or share the proceeds with them.
The bottom line they have a rotten life,
and go through incredible hardship in eking out a living.
So the reader of this must think I am
partial to hunters, and condone this killing. Far from it. However put yourself
in the shoes of the hunter. You have to understand his point of view if you
want to reduce the incidence of killing of endangered and species that are in
short supply. Don’t forget the food chain is a very delicate balance and if
some of it goes out of equilibrium the whole eco system goes out of whack.
So for example because of the heavy use
of pesticides, the large communities of jungle cats have disappeared and are
very hard to find or see. This means that baby peacocks they used to eat now
thrive and are now a pest in the Country, so much so that it is very harmful
for the farmers too. However not only are they protected, but there is a
religious element that does not want them killed either. However as they are
not endangered, and they are now overrunning many places it is a matter of time
before culling will be permitted to control the over population.
Though Sri Lanka is a small island,
there are pockets where certain species are over populated, while in other
areas they are under populated. This is partly due to farms, urban gardens and
food sources. So monkeys are a menace in certain areas, as well as wild boar,
in addition to the peacock, giant squirra and porcupine.
As there is no proper study of this and
species management program, all our hunters are effectively poachers and that
is why I would like to give them relief.
My first suggestion was to use these
poachers as game keepers as they are the best to do that job, knowing the
animals very well as well as their behavior especially, nocturnal patterns. If
we have a system of rehabilitating them, and using their skills then for
example the DWC can improve their performance in protecting Biodiversity. It
does not seem to be happening.
So what is the solution? Have a plan to
ship them to the USA where you treat is as a job that is badly required in the
USA but there are fewer people willing to do it. There is a huge demand for
hunters as trappers in the USA to reduce the over population of vermin and this
is where the coyote comes in.
The
Coyote
The coyote is the USA equivalent of the
Jackal and due to urbanization the population of the coyote is increasing by
leaps and bounds. Despite the estimated killing of at least 400,000 coyote
yearly in the USA their population, especially in urban areas is rising.
Earlier they were poisoned, but this is no longer used, as it may affect the
food chain adversely, so alternative methods need to be used.
I am using coyote as just one example,
but there are many species that can be legally hunted in the USA due to the
need to control populations of certain species. For example due to the
decimation of wolves in North America, the population of coyotes expanded, as
wolves used to kill coyote cubs. That is not to say coyotes are also have their
place in controlling other species too, so there is a balance in how they too
are controlled.
Here in Arkansas where I am they can be
freely killed without a permit. The beauty of it is that our hunters are superb
at their job. Just give them a good gun and they will be top of the game. See
what they have to put up with. They make their own guns, very primitive ones
that are used for hunting. So if they have access to proper hunting rifles it
will be like ducks to water.
Now coyote pelts were in demand in the
past to export to countries to make fur clothing. So just imagine our hunters
came for a season each year, collect all the coyote pelts they can and ship
them back to Sri Lanka, and make the winter clothing from these natural pelts
and re-export them to countries that demand them.
So what is the catch in my plan? Our
hunters will get too used to the good life in the USA and will want to do some
easy job, instead of hunting and skip town to work in a gas station and work
their way up the food chain in the USA. If they stick to what they know best
they can have a good life, it can reduce the vermin by the use of world experts
and they can earn a good living for their families.
No comments:
Post a Comment