By: Rakesh Lohumi ( Sr. Editor-ICN Group )
Killing of a species like monkey also involves religious sentiments of Hindus and that is why no monkeys have been killed even after the government nod.
The decision of the Centre to declare monkeys as vermin within the limits of Shimla Municipal Corporation and 38 Tehsils of Himachal Pradesh has brought the larger issue of growing human animal conflict into sharp focus.
Animal rights activists and spiritual organisations are up in arms against the decision as it effectively means that the Rhesus Macaque species of simians can now be killed in the notified area. More so, as the state forest department has sent a proposal to extend the decision to 53 Tehsil which will virtually cover the entire area where simians have significant population.
The monkey nuisance is a indicative of the bigger problem of growing human –animal conflict, a consequence of the ecologically destructive policies being pursued in the name of development in the hill state by successive governments.
The problem is not confined to monkeys, the incidence of attacks by wild animals like leopards and bear venturing into human habitations and attacking villagers are on the increase. Besides, wild boars, porcupines, rabbits, sambhars, blue bulls, peafowls and jungle fowls also damage crops.
Killing the hapless simians in the garb of scientific culling is not the right approach as it will eventually mean that many more species will have to eliminate. In fact, simians are ecological dislocates whose natural habitats have been destroyed due to unbridled expanse of human activities into forests areas.
While the very idea of killing monkeys is inhuman, it is also not justified in view of the spectacular success of the mass sterilization programme being implemented in the state since 2006. As per state forest department’s own claim over 1,15,269 monkeys, both male and female, have been sterilized till second week of December last. It has brought the population of monkeys from 3, 17,512 in 2004 to 2, 07,614 in 2015, a massive decline of 40 percent , is a big achievement. If the number of simians has been declining then the nuisance they cause could not have increased to such an alarming extent that calls for drastic measures like killing.
The main factor responsible for the growing human-animal conflict is the unregulated and excessive human activities in the environmentally fragile hills which has led to wanton destruction of green cover and huge constructions on precipitous slopes. Even reserve forest areas have been leased out to private companies for eco-tourism projects.
The area under dense forests has been fast shrinking with over 2000 hectares under encroachment and the government is not keen to act against the offenders. The state high court has issued repeated directions to the government to get the unauthorized occupants ejected from forests. Further, the laying of roads, particularly in the interior areas, and setting up of dams for impounding and diverting the rivers for power generation has caused fragmentation of natural habitats.
The callous attitude of government towards environment has led to destruction bio-reserves, which serve as a natural habitat for a wide range of flora and fauna. The human –animal encounters are on the increase due to the fragmentation of natural habitats. There are very few continuous stretches of forests left in the state and as a result animals often stray into human habitations that have come up close to forests. the and to construction of roads and power projects, the involve impounding of rivers and streams.
Rajeshwar Singh Negi, an environment activist and Convener of Nature Watch India, has moved the Himachal Pradesh High Court against the notification declaring monkeys as vermin. Delhi based Dhyan Foundation has also joined the legal battle to save the animal with which religious sentiments of people are involved. They maintain that the people are not in favour of killing monkeys
Spiritual organizations like the Dhyan Foundation, which are actively involved in protecting monkeys, point out that peaceful coexistence of humans with simians had its roots in the spiritual and philosophical traditions being followed by Hindus over the past more than 5,000 years.
Compassion for all living beings has been one of the basic tenets of Hinduism, pivoted on the philosophy of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (the entire world is one family). It is quite shocking that in a religious country like India, where ethical treatment of animals has been an age-old tradition, the government agencies repeatedly come up with plans for carrying out scientific culling of monkeys to deal with increasing conflict with humans, which is a fall out of indiscretions of human beings.
Opting for scientific culling seems imprudent at a time when ongoing biological research is providing increasing evidence to reinforce the Vedic view that many animal species have cognitive faculties and have rich emotional and social lives. A conference of neuroscientists at the University of Cambridge, UK, came up with the “Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness” on July 7, 2012, proclaiming the outcome of the long drawn research efforts that “animals and humans are conscious and aware to the same degree as one another”.
However, the the State KIsan Sabha maintains that certain species like monkeys and leopards have been over protected and have become unmanageable. The situations has become so bad that in many areas farmers had stopped growing crops as wild animals like monkey, langur, boar and blue bull. There is no other way for the forest department except resorting to scientific culling to contain their population.
Rajeshwar Singh Negi asserts that scientific culling is no solution as territory vacated by one species is usually occupied by another species. It is already happening in Shimla and other areas where significant decline in monkey population has been offset by increase in number of langurs. The monkeys and langurs do not share territory and the territory being vacated by the former is being occupied by the latter. The issue is played up by political parties to impress the farmers who constitute a sizeable vote bank.
Killing of a species like monkey also involves religious sentiments of Hindus and that is why no monkeys have been killed even after the government nod. The government has now announced a reward of Rs 500 for killing a monkey.
