Forest Department to crack down on wildlife hunting in north Karnataka

The Forest Department has issued a set of guidelines to prevent illegal hunting and to act upon those who engage in any kind of hunting of wild animals, including trophy hunting or ritual hunting, especially in northern Karnataka.

The steps included organising programmes to create awareness among the local people about wildlife conservation, forest conservation, and legal action against wildlife crime cases, creating awareness among the youth and school children about wildlife conservation, and taking necessary legal action against those who hunt wildlife and post the pictures on social media.

Officers were told to identify places where poaching occurred and hold awareness programmes for the staff about wildlife conservation, forest conservation, and the need to take legal action in fresh wildlife crime cases, and to follow up on ongoing cases.

The guidelines were announced at a video conference of all jurisdictional officers from Kalyana Karnataka and Kittur Karnataka held on May 29. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden Kumar Pushkar and Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Bishwajit Mishra were among those who addressed the field officers.

Mr. Pushkar spoke about the increasing cases of illegal hunting of wildlife in northern Karnataka in recent days, and said illegal hunting was being celebrated by sharing pictures, videos, or updates on social media. He pointed out that Belagavi-based wildlife conservationist Giridhar Kulkarni had submitted a proposal regarding the steps that could be taken to effectively prevent illegal hunting of wildlife in this region.

Just as steps are being taken to prevent wildlife crimes in protected areas, the divisions concerned were instructed to detect illegal hunting of wildlife in their jurisdiction, and take necessary legal action.

Register cases

The Chief Conservator of Forests, Kalaburagi Circle said that appropriate directions should be given to the field staff to register wildlife crime cases, and take necessary legal action.

Officials were told to identify pictures and videos posted on social media regarding wildlife crime cases, trace the accused and seek appropriate cooperation from cybercrime personnel, if necessary. In this regard, they were advised to depute a dedicated officer of the cadre of Zonal Forest Officer or Sub-Zonal Forest Officer with expertise in ICT in each division.

Officials were advised to detect the wildlife crime posted on social media, register a Wildlife Offence Report (WLOR), and take appropriate legal action, and take necessary action to produce the accused in court.

Officials were advised to organise legal awareness training programmes (workshops) for field staff on wildlife crime cases in the presence of legal experts, lawyers, and officers at the circle and division level. They were advised to study cases that have already been registered and produced in court during such training programmes.

The Circle and Divisional Units were directed to coordinate with police officers to facilitate effective registration of wildlife crime cases.

Deputy Conservators of Forests of Ballari, Ghataprabha, Koodagi, Jayanagar, Bagalkot, Kalaburagi, Gadag, Koppal, Yadgir, Raichur, Bidar, Raichur, Chitradurga, and Vijayanagar divisions participated in the meeting.

Hunting wildlife being glorified

Earlier, Mr. Kulkarni had sent a memorandum to the State Government expressing concern about recurring incidents of hunting of wild animals using packs of hunting dogs in parts of Kalyana Karnataka and Kittur Karnataka.

In several places, people are entering forests with packs of hunting dogs to hunt Indian Hare, Indian Porcupine, Monitor Lizard, Small Indian Civet, Bengal Fox, Wild Pig, and other wildlife. Later, some of them were uploading and circulating images and videos of their activities on social media in an attempt to glorify such activities.

The letter noted that the issue could not be seen as an enforcement problem alone. “The repeated occurrence of such incidents across multiple districts points towards a broader and more complex social issue involving various underlying factors, including social practices, economic conditions, traditional and cultural aspects, unemployment, recreational hunting habits, and lack of awareness regarding wildlife laws and ecological importance. Many of these regions are economically and educationally backward areas where awareness regarding wildlife conservation and legal consequences of hunting remains limited,” he stated.

“Further, the forest divisions in Raichur, Yadgir, Vijayapura, and adjoining districts contain relatively small extents of notified forest areas, and the wildlife species involved are not confined to forests alone. Indian Porcupine, Indian Hare, Bengal Fox, Small Indian Civet, Wild Pig and Monitor Lizard are frequently found in private land, agricultural fields, scrubland, grazing areas, and village surroundings. As a result, wildlife conservation in these districts requires a much broader landscape-level approach rather than a forest-centric approach alone,” he said.

Demand of conservationists

He demanded several measures, like encouraging community participation and citizen reporting mechanisms, involving religious and spiritual leaders, village elders and others who can effectively communicate with local communities, to abandon ritual-based hunting practices, sufficient budget allocation, and dedicated financial support, exposing school students to forests and wildlife, and securing funding support under the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives for conservation-related activities.

Among the demands was legal initiatives, like expediting the process relating to notification of forest areas under provisions of the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963, particularly Section 4 areas, which are pending for final notification under Section 17 or Section 33, as delays in settlement and notification processes often weaken long-term protection and management of important wildlife habitats and scrub forest landscapes in these districts.

Another demand was accelerating the ongoing process relating to preparation and settlement of Consolidated Record of Forest Lands (CRFL), maps and strengthening coordination with the Revenue Department for identification and provision of suitable Compensatory Afforestation (CA) lands within these regions in lieu of diversion of forest lands across Karnataka.