The Hindu : Saving wildlife

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 31, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Saving wildlife

Sir, — Your forthright Editorial, "Murder most foul" (Jan. 24) should serve as a wake-up call to our administrators. The authorities are yet to unravel the nefarious trade in the skins of scheduled animals, which has links all over the globe. Measures have to be chalked out to tighten the laws. India and other South Asian countries should prevail upon the U.S. and other Western countries to ban the sale of these skins.

R. Krishnamurthy,
Coimbatore, T.N.

Sir, — You have exposed with pinpoint precision the reasons for uninhibited poaching. It is indeed sad that both power and the purse play havoc on hapless creatures. No matter what the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2001, lays down, to implement it is like belling the cat. Even in the days of the British Raj, the big game hunter did not do half as much harm. Moreover, dynamiting fish was unheard of.

It is indeed tragic that the tribal folk and fauna and flora alike have been ruthlessly exploited by commercial predators. Unscrupulous middlemen with political clout have lured and corrupted the innocent tribals. For, they know that the tribal folk enjoy immunity. They are allowed to snare and shoot certain birds and beasts for food.

P. R. Krishna Narayanan,
Cochin

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