Facing losses, farm unions oppose new hunting rules

Farm unions have urged the Punjab Government to ease hunting norms so that the farmers, whose crops are often destroyed by wild boars, do not suffer financially.

Farmers want the Wildlife Department to amend the recently framed rules, which bar consumption of meat of the hunted animal and only allow “specific weapons to hunt”.

According to the department’s recent decision, farmers can use only “.315 bore rifles” to hunt wild boars and blue bulls. Farmers claim that every year their sugarcane and vegetable crops are destroyed due to frequent attacks by animals, especially during night hours.

There are only a handful of professional hunters in Punjab who claim that the majority of the farmers are ill-equipped and not trained for hunting wild animals which attack their fields. “A vast majority of farmers do not have .315 calibre weapons. With the carcass not allowed for self-consumption, as was the case earlier, we have no interest in spending from our pocket on fuel, manpower and weapons,” said hunter VS Sidhu.

According to the recent guidelines, the affected farmer can apply for a hunting permit after filing an application. “One-year permit will be issued and farmers can hunt animals except from April to August, the breeding season,” it reads. “The carcass of the hunted animal shall be government property and handed over to the Range Forest Officer concerned. The carcass shall be disposed of as per the Wild Life Disposal of Wild Animal Article Rules, 2023,” reads a revised permit for hunting issued on August 7, 2023.

“How can a farmer spend the night chasing animals in fields? Only trained persons can help and without any incentive, they are not interested. Filing compensation claims for injuries and crop loss is a very cumbersome process,” the farm unions said, urging the government to relax norms. “Many farmers set up network of live wires around their farms, which is an inhumane way of killing animals,” they said.

Chief Wildlife Warden Dharminder Sharma said once they received written requests from farm unions, they would forward that to the government for consideration.