I’m Kiran, a high school student from Tamilnadu, starting this petition with hopes to see a positive change for wild animals in India. Human-animal conflict is occurring in today’s agricultural areas which were once the habitat and corridors of India’s wildlife. These forests are being encroached upon by humans due to urbanization and overpopulation and hence higher human demands. This causes human-animal conflicts that result in loss of agricultural products and sometimes the lives of animals/humans.        

    The Environment Ministry of India, when led by Mr. Prakash Javadekar had issued a permit declaring certain wild animals as “vermin” (pest), permitting the culling of these animals in six states – West Bengal, Bihar, Goa, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh . The absence of wild animals can collapse ecosystems and result in large-scale ecological destruction. Other countries have gone through this, made the mistake of large-scale killing of wild animals and learned from their mistakes. Case in point here are the wolves in Yellowstone National Park in the US. Please refer to the YouTube video on this subject called “How wolves change rivers” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q              

Culling of wild animals is unethical, which can be replaced by compassionate alternatives such as building safe corridors for wild animals as was done successfully in Kenya to mitigate human-animal conflict involving elephants. The same was done by the collaboration between World Land Trust and Wildlife Trust of India in the Siju-Rewak Corridor in Garo Hills, Meghalaya, and the Tirunelli-Kudrakote Corridor in Kerala. Other humane alternatives include efficient management of agriculture  and the creation of consortium for non-violent human-animal conflict resolution where conservation biologists, wild-animal welfare institutions, civic organizations and rural development departments can come together to create effective, peaceful, non-violent solutions that benefit people, wild animals, and the environment.

The culling of animals as a solution is short-sighted and cannot possibly be a positive exposure to the people of India, especially the younger generation who will be the future citizens of our country. It will only make the current unstable climate and drought/floods scenario worse – by adding to the climate disasters, directly or indirectly. This issue is of great importance to people, because all living organisms – people, animals, and the environment are interconnected, and depend on each other for survival. Your support given by signing this petition will help protect the beautiful tapestry of nature, animals and humans and make this Earth safe, sustainable, just and peaceful!

I hereby appeal to the Prime Minister of India and the Central Minister for Environment to consider my petition and rescind the issued permit to cull wild animals in the six states.  Please discuss the feasibility of the alternate humane choices by creating a special committee including conservation biologists, wild-animal welfare officials and rural development officers who come up with solutions that benefit people, wild animals and the environment. Let your value-based decision remain as a paradigm for the future generation to follow.