Human-Animal Conflict in India – Wild Animals as Victims of Speciesist Violence

In recent years, we see more and more cases of human-animal conflict surface in India, in both urban and rural areas. Animals raised and slaughtered for “food” are not the only victims of speciesist violence. This article looks at the human-animal conflict, especially in the context of legalizing the killing of wildlife by declaring them as “vermin.” The article also briefly lists the causes of the human-animal conflicts, along with questioning why animals are made to pay the penalty with their lives.

Wildlife Protection Act of 1972

Around 2015, states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh made applications before the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&C) that animals such as the Nilgai, Wild Boars, and Rhesus Macaque be declared as vermin.

This was done so that these animals can be taken out of the protection granted in the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and be culled or slaughtered. The States wanted to do so because of the increasing human-animal conflict.

Placing the Blame for the Human-Animal Conflict on the Animals

Subsequent to such requests, the MoEF&C in December 2015 issued a notification declaring the Neelgai and Wild Boar as “vermin” in some districts of Bihar, following which, 250 Nilgais were culled in three days.

Activist Gauri Maulekhi filed an application before the Supreme Court challenging the MoEF&C notification, alleging that the slaughter of wild animals was unconstitutional. However, the Supreme Court refused to impose a stay on such notifications.

The MoEF&C, by declaring the animals to be vermin, seems to be placing the entire blame of the human-animal conflict on the animals and punishing them by giving the go ahead for their culling.

But are animals really to blame for such conflict?

Causes of the Human-Animal Conflict in India: An Overview

The human-animal conflict in India is not a situation that has arisen all of a sudden. Rather, the conditions underlying the conflict have been simmering over the years. Some of these causes are briefly outlined as follows:

• Deforestation and lessening of the green cover in cities are some of the reasons why wild animals get drawn towards crops and human dwellings in search of their food.
• Natural calamities such as droughts also affect animals as it leads to sources of their food getting dried up, pushing them towards human habitats and crop fields.
• Imbalance created in Nature with a decrease in the population of carnivores, such as tigers and leopards has led to the apparent rise in the numbers of Neelgais and other herbivores. researchers have observed.

The question that then arises is if the causes of the human-animal conflict are manifold, and most of them are related to the fact that humans have encroached upon the natural habitats of animals in different ways such as the expansion of cities, development of new townships, mining, industries, road constructions and so on, then why are the animals having to pay the costs with their lives?

Wild Animals as Victims of Speciesist Violence

Perhaps, the answer lies in the idea of ‘speciesism’ discussed by Peter Singer in his seminal work, Animal Liberation, in 1975. Singer explained speciesism as a prejudice or bias that members of one species have towards their own interests, as against the interest of members of other species.

Or in other words, it refers to the notion that human animals are superior to non-human animals and their rights and interests should triumph over that of the non-humans.

Resolving the Human-Animal Conflict Using Emotional Intelligence

Today, the arrogance of humans has been ripped apart by the issue of climate change and pandemics such as COVID 19 caused by animal-human transmissions. Humans need to learn from these developments and acknowledge that they are just one component of the life that exists on this planet, and their wellbeing is linked to that of others.

There is a dire need to explore compassionate methods for addressing the human-animal conflict by summoning our emotional intelligence.

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Image credits:
Wild boar: Image by CrizzlDizzl from Pixabay 
Nilgai: Image by Bishnu Sarangi from Pixabay
Wild elephant: Photo by Tomáš Malík from Pexels
Rhesus Macaque : Photo by Aleksey Kuprikov from Pexels