Formulate policy on euthanasia of wildlife

The draft third National Wildlife Action Plan (NWAP) 2017-2031 report recently unveiled by the Ministry of Environment reveals that there is an urgent need for defining euthanasia and mercy killing to tackle terminally ill animals and human –wildlife conflict.
The draft report noted that the subject of euthanasia among the wild animals is a sensitive subject, as it tantamount to hunting, according to Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Even the International Union For Conservation of Nature (IUCN) differentiates euthanasia from mercy killing – the former act is putting an end to the misery of terminally ill animals, while the later is putting healthy animals to sleep for reasons of space, lack of proper centres, resources and personnel.
The need of the hour is to define these terms in the Indian context and identify suitable procedures as well as implementing agencies to address the welfare of suffering animals, notes the action plan.
It also said that practical and legally binding protocol on the subject of mercy killing and euthanasia of wild animals, based on the advice of a committee of experts drawn from the wildlife and the veterinary sciences, should be established by 2018-end.
In this regard, the Supreme Court is already hearing a petition regarding allowing euthanasia for humans. In India, the debate around euthanasia reached its peak in the case of Aruna Shanbaug, who remained in a permanent vegetative state for decades after a brutal rape in a hospital where she worked as a nurse.
Meanwhile, the draft action plan advocates use of digital media, celebrity-endorsed campaigns and social networking sites to create awareness about wildlife crime. It also suggests establishing a separate channel ‘DD-Prakirti’ for promoting awareness about the nature conservation in India in collaboration with Doordrashan.
The action plan suggests that the environment ministry should ensure that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of developmental projects take into consideration potential human-wildlife conflict that large landscape levelling, and use practices or alterations can cause.
The draft report stated that the state governments may replicate Gujarat Forest Departments Programme “Vanya Praani Mitra” programmes in villages which are in high human-wildlife conflict zones. Youth enrolled under this programme generally receive a paltry honorarium and liaison between the villagers and forest departments in case of human-wildlife conflict and they manage the conflict before the arrival of forest officials on the scene, help control the crowd and assist in rescuing stranded wild animals.
The draft also called for commissioning a national programme to bring both human and animal health sectors in India in accordance with modern paradigm of ‘One world One Health’.
To address rise in wildlife crime, it suggests that there is need to have capacity of frontline forest guards and officers charged with responsibility to investigate wildlife crimes. As technologies such as Internet and mobiles are being used effectively by crime syndicates, the wildlife crime investigators also need to be equipped with matching skills to carry out technology-based investigations leading to busting of networks behind these crimes, it said.
The action plan also called for creation of special courts for cases related to wildlife crime and the environment ministry needs to persuade all armed forces and paramilitary forces to create environment cells.
The environment ministry should also persuade all ministries, departments, agencies and the corporate bodies approaching it for environmental and forest clearance to set up environment cells and include conservation education in their action plans, NWAP said.

G Rajendera Kumar