This year, around the New Year celebration, the forest department seized large quantities of wild animal carcasses and wild meat from various parts of the state. The seizure reported from Doimukh and Daporijo by forest officials made it to the media. Also, videos of people enjoying wild meat while welcoming New Year were being circulated in the social media circuits. Despite the best efforts of everyone, a large section of the population still rampantly kills wild animals for consumption during the festive occasion in the state. Often their justification is that killing is part of tribal traditions.
This is an absurd justification and cannot be accepted. There is no doubt that in the past tribals used to hunt, but it was done using traditional weapons and for family consumption only. Today, the hunting of wild animals is done using modern, sophisticated weapons. The hunters can kill large numbers of animals using these weapons. Further, the killing of wild animals for trade cannot be justified in the name of tribal tradition.
It is quite sad that despite strong legal protection and all the awareness campaigns, wild animals are still being killed in large numbers in the state. This has to stop. The forest department alone cannot end it. The people of the state will have come forward and put an end to this killing. If this rampant killing continues, one day our forests will have no wild animals left.