To many, the mental image of a hunter is a person with a sophisticated gun. While it is true that guns are used to hunt, a variety of ingenious methods are employed by skilled local hunters. These include snares made from brake cables, metal jaw traps, baited explosives, poison, traditional weapons like bows and clubs, trained dogs, nets, among others.
Hunters come from different social classes. Thanks to the colonial hangover, we still come across cases involving high-profile film actors, politicians, rifle club members and even government officials. Wildlife traders are kingpins who fund poor local people living inside forests or hunting communities who have special skills to target wildlife.
It must be recognised that such hunting and illegal trade, which is second only to narcotics and estimated by Interpol to be worth around USD 20 billion, cannot be wished away. While it is often touted by academics that local communities can protect their forests, reality is that entrenched mafia can only be stopped by “guns and guards” approach.
Do we have a time-tested system of protection? A few reserves like Nagarahole and Bandipur have a reasonably effective multi-tiered protection system with foot and mobile patrols, a network of anti-hunting camps and check-posts along public roads traversing them. The very fact that these reserves have some of the highest tiger densities is an indicator of the effectiveness of this time-tested system. However, we need to replicate this in other reserves like Kudremukh, Kali and MM Hills.
Often viewed as a “low-tech” method, foot patrols are an indispensable component in anti-hunting efforts. Forest officers have effectively used this method to counter hunters, who sneak in on foot and silently set up jaw traps and wire snares. Only foot patrols can track down and ambush such hunting gangs or detect a cleverly camouflaged jaw trap embedded on a forest trail. Without this crucial element of foot patrols, which are “boots on the ground”, no protection system can be effective.
Another vital ingredient is strong leadership from forest officers. Enforcement being a tough and inherently risky job, frontline staff need constant motivation and quality leadership. It is this, rather than automatic weapons or fancy gizmos like drones, iPads and mobile apps, that can achieve results. Lastly, we must also focus on strengthening institutions — forest, police, forensics and prosecution — backed by good induction and refresher training to maintain a fighting force and an effective prosecution mechanism to deter the hunting mafia.