WORLD
Indian state OKs shooting tiger poachers on sight
Baku, May 23 (AZERTAC). A state in western India has declared war on animal poaching by sanctioning its forest guards to shoot hunters on sight in an effort to curb rampant attacks against tigers and other wildlife. The government in Maharashtra says injuring or killing suspected poachers will no longer be considered a crime. Forest guards should not be "booked for human rights violations when they have taken action against poachers," Maharashtra Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam said Tuesday. The state also will send more rangers and jeeps into the forest, and will offer secret payments to informers who give tips about poachers and animal smugglers, he said. The threat against poachers may be only bluster. No tiger poachers have ever been shot in Maharashtra before, though cases of shooting illegal loggers and fishermen have led to charges against forest guards. But the threat could act as a significant deterrent to wildlife criminals, conservationists said. India faces intense international scrutiny over its tiger conservation, as the country holds half of the world`s estimated 3,200 tigers in dozens of wildlife reserves set up since the 1970s, when hunting was banned. Illegal poaching remains a stubborn and serious threat, with tiger parts in particular fetching high prices on the black market thanks to demand driven by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.
According to the Wildlife Protection Society of India, 14 tigers have been killed by poachers in India so far this year — one more than in all of 2011. The tiger is considered endangered, with its habitat range shrinking more than 50 percent in the last quarter-century while its numbers declined from the 5,000-7,000 estimated in the 1990s, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A recent study on hunting in India noted 114 species of mammals alone were being actively hunted across the country, with dozens of birds and reptiles also under attack.
It`s unclear whether Maharashtra`s example in making poachers the target will be followed by other states.