This article is written by Rohit Raj, a student currently pursuing B.A.LLB. (Hons.) from Lloyd Law College. This is an exhaustive article which deals with the concept of hunting and why there is a need for prohibition and in which cases hunting of wild animals is being allowed.
“I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it’s such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her.”
-Ellen DeGeneres
Table of Contents
Introduction
“You are near to find out the concept of hunting and why it is prohibited.” If you want to know the reason behind the prohibition of hunting and why in some cases hunting is not prohibited. You will surely get answers to all these in this article. This article is related to the emergence of the concept of hunting and how it spread all over the world and why there is the need of the prohibition on hunting which has spread across the world.
Hunting all across the world is used as a medium of trading and using hunted animals for the commercialization process and to earn a huge amount of profit from that hunted animal trading is rampant.
Hunting
Hunting means some type of activity that involves mostly 3 processes i.e. Seeking, Pursuing and killing wild animals for their purpose of trading, commercialization, and earning a huge amount of profit from their body and its parts.
Concept of hunting emerged 3 million years ago and it is existing till now across the globe. Earlier during the king’s rule hunting was considered as a privilege of nobility and noble family and they used to do hunting in their free time as a source of enjoyment for them.
If we look at the definition of hunting according to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 ‘Hunting’ includes:
- Capturing, killing, poisoning, snaring and trapping of any wild animal and every attempt to do so.
- Driving any wild animal for any of the purposes specified i.e. Trading, commercializing.
- Destroying or taking any parts of the animal or any species.
But soon after the French revolution, hunting was made illegal which caused damage to the ecosystem of the forest and also led to endangered species. Earlier hunting was considered as a spare time activity and sign of nobility but now the government has made many laws related to prohibition of hunting which regulate the practice.
As said “hunting is a leisure activity during the time of emperors but in the latter period, hunting was not considered as a leisure or spare time activity, rather it was considered as a Necessity.” The reason behind considering hunting as a necessity in the early period is that during the early period, People were nomadic and there was no development of other societies except nomadic society. At the beginning they ate the animals which get dead or deceased but with the passing of time they started to look for fresh meat and healthy animals and started hunting by using their man made tools made up of stones. Some of the tools which were majorly used by the hunters in early and middle age were spear, bow and quiver.
In the case of State of Bihar vs. Murad Ali Khan, 1989, it was held that hunting is an offence under section 51(1) of the Wildlife Protection Act and decided that hunting of wild animals is to be permitted in certain cases and gave an example of self defence that in order to protect ourselves from wild animals in any circumstances and killing or giving any harm to that animal will not fall under the provision of Wildlife Protection Act.
In the case of Nabin Chandra Gogoi vs. State, 1958 the magistrate convicted the man under section 429 of Indian Penal Code and according to the provision of the Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act, 1912. But, Petitioner filed an appeal against this decision and Session Judge upheld the Magistrate decision and contended that the conviction under Section 429 of IPC was not valid as section 429 of IPC says that killing of domestic animal will make the petitioner liable under the provision and killing of rhinoceros is in no way killing of a domestic animal and hence conviction under provision of Section 429 of IPC is invalid.
Prohibition of Hunting
Hunting has spread across the globe and to control that, prohibition of hunting is necessary. The government has also brought laws to regulate the activities of hunting and regulate or ban the trading of animals and its parts.
According to Section 9 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Prohibition of hunting has been explained. “No person shall hunt any wild animal as specified in schedules, I, II, III and IV except as provided under section 11 and section 12.” Post-Independence hunting was banned by the government under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, except for some purposes which is defined in section 11 and section 12 of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
If we look at what impact laid down by the prohibition of hunting then according to a study, it is found that the prohibition of wildlife hunting introduced by the government of Botswana lead to the reduction of earning and livelihood of the rural people and due to which they suffered a lot.
The need for prohibition
The need for a prohibition title itself shows why hunting needs to be prohibited. It is because the term ‘need’ means it should be completed or to be done in any circumstances no matter whatever the situation would be.
Hunting means killing wild animals for the purpose of earning large amounts of money or for the purpose of self fulfillment and is totally wrong in both aspects legally as well as morally.
Hunting should be prohibited because of the continuous practice of killing from the very early period due to which the balance of the ecosystem gets disturbed and it affects human and animal life. Hunting leads to the extinction of various species and which gradually paves way to the danger to biodiversity.
Hunting should be banned because many tribes realize wild fauna which are alive have greater value in biodiversity than the dead ones and also it maintains the ecological balance and if in this condition hunting will not be prohibited then it will be hurting many tribal groups which believe in living fauna in the biodiversity.
The prohibition of hunting for all these benefits is necessary and for implementation of this rule of not hunting any animal, Government brings many acts for the regulation of hunting and prohibition of hunting in India. Some of the Acts which were introduced for the implementation of the rule of ban of hunting and regulation of prohibition of hunting.
- The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
- Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 428 and Section 429).
Hunting of wild animals to be permitted in certain cases
Hunting of wild animals is surely an illegal act and any person performing it will be booked under the provisions of law as per different act as mentioned above. If we look at the provisions and sections of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 then Section 11 of the same act deals with the certain cases where hunting of wild animals is permitted. Section 11 of Wildlife (Protection) Act says that, notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force and subject to the provision of Chapter IV.
- If the Chief WildLife Warden is satisfied that any wild animal specified in schedule (I) which is dangerous to human life or diseased as to be beyond recovery, by order in writing and stating the reasons therefor, permit any person to hunt such animal.
- If the Chief WildLife Warden or the authorized officer is satisfied that the wild animal mentioned in schedule (II) is dangerous to human life or to any property, by order in writing and stating the reasons therefor, permit any person to hunt any such animal.
The killing or harming of any wild animal in self defence of oneself or defence of anyone shall not be booked or constitute an offence under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
These are the exceptions provided in Section 11 of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 in which any person will be permitted for hunting a wild animal.
The whole act of killing an animal should be as per the provision mentioned and if it is not according to the provisions mentioned then that person will be booked under the said provisions and shall be punished.
Grant of a permit of Hunting for special purposes
Grant of permit hunting for special purposes simply means that any person can practice hunting without being held liable according to the provisions of law which regulate the hunting of Animals only in special circumstances or for special purposes.
According to the Section 12 of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, notwithstanding anything contained elsewhere in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, it is lawful for the warden to grant a permit, by an order in writing stating the reasons therefor, to any person, on payment of fees as prescribed, which shall entitle the holder of such permit to hunt subject to such conditions as may be specified, for the purpose of:
- Education.
- Scientific research.
- Scientific Management.
After analyzing the Section 12 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 we come to know that there is grant of permit of hunting for some specific purposes and these all specific purposes are so much essential for any country to develop it and the three purposes are mentioned above.
Education, which is considered as the most important element of the society. Education is necessary for all and for the work of research and practical study, there is a need for animal body parts and due to which hunting is permitted for this area.
Scientific research is something which is required to develop in this field to compete at global level and never be dependent on other countries for scientific research on something or particular things. And, the last one is Scientific management. Before explaining why it is necessary, first one should understand what scientific management is. ‘Scientific Management’ is a management that analyzes and smoothens workflows in any place or organization. Scientific management is considered an element and considered as an exception for which hunting is permitted so that it ensures a smooth workflow, brings efficiency, effectiveness and productivity.
Conclusion
Hunting of Wild animals is considered illegal not in the early phase of period but the government is active and considering it illegal just after the French revolution and many laws and provisions were laid down for the regulation of the hunting of animals.
Banning hunting is also a necessary step taken by the government as it almost unbalances the ecosystem and deteriorating nature. The major reason according to my presumption for considering hunting as illegal is that it leads to extinction of many species of wild animals and affecting the biodiversity which is the main focus of any country.
The article explains how the exception area is essential for the development of the country instead of extinction of wild animal species due to hunting, some areas which were considered so much important for the development of Nation, are eligible to do hunting for their purposes whenever they need without being booked under the provision of law and the different acts. Yes, this is also an important element for any nation to compete and develop with any other nation but for that continuous hunting of wild animals is never a solution. Government should not bring more laws for hunting prohibition, the most important thing is that the laws which were existing currently for the regulation of prohibition of hunting should be strictly followed and regulated. For better control on it, the government should make a special committee which looks after the activities of the members of these three departments to whom hunting is allowed for their purpose for contributing to the development of the nation and this committee should look after their day to day activities so that extra hunting more than necessary should not be exercised and if anybody does extras than necessary requirement then they should be punished as per the given law or existing law.
LawSikho has created a telegram group for exchanging legal knowledge, referrals and various opportunities. You can click on this link and join:
