Save our Wildlife; Don't kill them

http://dailypioneer.com/161792/Jalpaiguri-villagers-lynch-leopard.html

- - Jalpaiguri villagers lynch leopard (The Pioneer, 10 March 2009)

In another unfortunate incident, the villagers of Jalpaiguri (in West Bengal) have clubbed and lynched in a brutal manner because they saw that as a ‘threat’. Meanwhile, the Meghalaya forest officials are ‘hunting’ for an elephant which went ‘berserk’ and killed four people. The wildlife of India is in a great danger of extinction. The way we are killing our endangered species, we might make all these animals extinct in a decade or so. The ‘justification’ given by the villagers and the government officials (who sometimes order the killing of ‘dangerous animals in human areas’) is that these wild animals enter ‘human inhabited areas’ and as such, these ‘dangers’ have to be executed.

But then aren’t we, humans, trespassing and occupying the areas inhabited by our brothers and sisters (wild animals) of forests? Shall we say that those species, which are threatened by our occupation, have the right to kill (or eliminate) us – ‘dangers to their environment and living conditions’? Shrinking forest cover and deforestation are the major reasons for these occasional ‘wild’ trespassers. Instead of taking measures to stop such things, the government is focussing on even more destroying the ‘natural wealth’ of the nation.

The situation in India right now is explained by the line ‘Throwing the baby out with the bath water’. Let the government and the people get their heads out of the sand and do something constructive to protect the wildlife. Else, I am afraid that our grandchildren will be shown only pictures and videos of the majestic lifestyle of tigers, leopards etc.