Stop the Hunting of Wildlife in India

Hi Friend,

Hope you are doing great!

At the outset, we would like to express our gratitude to you for supporting our project ‘Stop the Hunting of Wildlife in India’. The project aims to address the problem of illegal hunting of wildlife for trade purposes by the tribal communities through strengthened enforcement measures and sensitisation. Tribal communities in India have traditionally hunted for meat and trophies, but the illegal International trade in wildlife has given hunting a new dimension. Your generous contribution will significantly help us realize the project’s aim. We are also highly thankful to you for believing in us, our work and for choosing to donate for this cause.

The ‘Narikurava’ tribe (where ‘Nari’ means jackal, and ‘Kuruva’ means people) in south India are a hunting clan who predominantly depend on hunting jackals, foxes, squirrels and birds. Each clan has a tradition of keeping a bundle of clothes called ‘sami-mootai’ which is filled with the blood of animals sacrificed by them. In the Theni district of Tamil Nadu, there has been rampant poaching of Indian foxes and wolves by the community for meat consumption, medicinal use as well as superstitious purposes.

An informer network set up through a previous project had gathered evidence of 7 instances where illegal wildlife articles and body parts of the hunted foxes and jackals such as pelt, claws, and meat etc. were being sold near temples for superstitious purposes. The details of the trade were shared with the Forest Department as well. The trading group is anticipated to be working in Theni, Dindigul and Madurai and is possibly involved in the trade of leopard/sloth bear parts as well. To counter the problem of hunting for trade purposes, an RAP has been sanctioned in the region to sensitize the community about the importance of protecting wild animals. It also aims to catch the culprits involved in trading.

That’s all for today. We’ll soon follow up with more updates from the project. Till then, take care!

With regards,

Team WTI