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Insights into illegal wildlife hunting by forest guards of selected tiger reserves in Central India

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Abstract

Illegal wildlife hunting is an anthropogenic threat to global fauna with a cascading detrimental effect on the ecosystems. India imposed a blanket ban on hunting of all indigenous species (except Schedule V species) in 1991 (Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 amended) yet, wildlife hunting continues in a clandestine nature. The study is aimed at addressing three key issues: (i) drivers of illegal hunting, hunting practices, and trends in illegal hunting in the last decade; (ii) reasons for the dependence of local communities on protected areas; and (iii) awareness of the law among the local communities, through the lens of frontline-forest staff. An exploratory analysis is presented by surveying 415 forest guards. The results highlight (i) rising threat of retaliation hunting especially using electrical wires and snares, (ii) a perceived decline in illegal hunting trends in the last decade, (iii) dependence of local communities on firewood and non-timber forest produce, and (iv) there is awareness about the wildlife laws and policies at the grass-root level. This research provides insights for harnessing the knowledge of the forest guards for improving conservation strategies of protected areas, especially in the Tiger Landscapes of India.

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Notes

  1. The WLPA 1972 defines “hunting” as ‘Hunting with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions includes (a) capturing, killing, poisoning, snaring, and trapping of any wild animal and every attempt to do so, (b) driving any wild animal for any of purposes specified in sub-clause, (c) injuring or destroying or taking any part of the body of any such animal, or in the case of wild birds or reptiles, damaging the eggs of such birds or reptiles, or disturbing the eggs or nests of such birds or reptiles’.

  2. Core or critical tiger habitat (CTH) areas tiger reserves (parts of National Parks and sanctuaries), where it has been established, on the basis of scientific and objective criteria, that such areas are required to be kept as inviolate for the purposes of tiger conservation, without affecting the rights of the scheduled tribes or such other forest dwellers, and notified as such by the State Government in consultation with an Expert Committee constituted for the purpose (Sect. 38 V(4)(i), Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972).

  3. Penalties: “Any person, who commits an offence in relation to the core area of a tiger reserve or where the offence relate to hunting in the tiger reserve or altering the boundaries of the tiger reserve, such offence shall be punishable on first conviction with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years but may extend to seven years, and also with fine which shall not be less than fifty thousand rupees but may extend to two lakh rupees; and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment for a term of not less than seven years and also with fine which shall not be less than five lakh rupees but may extend to fifty lakh rupees” (Sect. 51 (10)(1c), Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972).

  4. Agree is the sum of strongly agree and agree responses of the forest guards.

  5. Electrical wires: 11-kW wires are used by hooking them to the main power lines in the village which help to create an extension; these techniques are similar to those used for power thefts. These power lines are then used to fence the farms in order to minimise crop damage due to ungulate species. Oftentimes, this leads to poaching of predator species which follow the prey into the farms.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT), Mumbai, specifically and Mr P. Navgire (Head Law Enforcement Monitoring Division (LEM) and the LEM team for their persistent support during this study. Also thanking the Field Directors of Nawegaon Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, Pench Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and Satpura Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh. The author is grateful to the study participants that is the forest guards, for their involvement, candour, and insight that have made this study a success.

Funding

This work was financially and academically supported by Professor P. Trivedi and the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay.

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  1. Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, 400076, Maharashtra, India

    Shreya Sethi

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Sethi, S. Insights into illegal wildlife hunting by forest guards of selected tiger reserves in Central India. Eur J Wildl Res 68, 4 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01553-8

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