#AllLivesMatter or #BlackLivesMatter

Historically from the colonial times racial prejudice has been prevalent in America be it against African who were bought into the country as slaves or Native Americans (Red Indians). These people have been subjected immense discrimination in hands of the white colonial people and there was no law protecting them from abuse including death in case of the Red Indians. We keep talking of the atrocities conducted by Nazi Germans against Jews in the name of cleansing the earth of non-Aryans but little is being said of British or American for their similar stand that of the white supremacy. American used to hero worship the white supremacy hate group Ku Klux Klan whose main targets were African Americans and their action was glorified. First Klan was formed in 1865 and it withered in 1871, second clan was from 1915 to 1944 and they were Anti-Immigration, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Catholicism, Anti-Communism and so forth and the third Klan formed in 1946 to present times who advocate Neo Nazism, Neo Fascism, Anti Islam, Anti LGBT, Anti-Immigration. In other word there are group of Americans that still believe in White Supremacy.

The ugly face of the White Supremacy reared its head with the death of George Floyd an African American at Minneapolis happened on 25^th May 2020, when a white Police officer knelt on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds while he was being handcuffed behind his back. He was being arrested on suspicion of passing counterfeit $20 bill and this took place in front of so many shoppers who filmed the incident  and the social media was set ablaze by these video posted by them. An unarmed black American killed by a white Police office is just a right catalyst to ignite the community protest and that’s what happened in Minneapolis America on 26^th May.. Initially very peaceful but then the protest turned violent with police precinct being burnt down and shops being looted. Protests started all over the country and the world as well and anyone who wanted 2 seconds of fame have started posting on the social media stories of racism and of the movement Black lives Matter with a hashtag #Blacklivesmatter

 Though the racial prejudice is still a norm in America impacting all colored people be it African Americans or Indians or Native Indian and people from the Far East life goes on as usual till such time some incident occurs and then the fuse blows. Suddenly protests breaks out all over the country turning violent leading to damages and looting of properties …venting of the pent up frustrations of trampled people all in the name of #Blacklivesmatter protests.

Close at the heels of this incident in America there was an Incident in India involving a pregnant Elephant that had a horrifying death due to eating a pineapple filled with country fire cracker. This news of the death of pregnant elephant has been in circulation in wild life group but it garnered massive support of the news media the moment few celebrities made a hue and cry on the social media and the hashtag #AllLivesMatter made a splash with almost everyone using it to get their two minutes fame.

Well the use of fruit filled with country firecracker, snares, poison and electric fences are being used by farmers along the fringes of forest to protect their crops against the raiding wild animals such as Elephants, Deer Boars and so many of them have been killed by this gruesome method and there has been no uproar at all.. if all lives matter then what about life of the animal killed in these circumstances is the question I ask them???. During the same time as the death of the pregnant elephant one other bull elephant died as a similar fruit laden with country burst in its jaw and there has been no news of it at all. Why is there a partiality in such deaths???

Similarly  #Blacklivesmatter, so many blacks have been killed by fellow black and nothing happens but one incident of a white man killing a black person which is quite minuscule whole country erupts to protests, riots and looting endangering peaceful population.

Be it people of any color or any animal, their lives do matter and it is quite important that we humans race do not discriminate fellow human on the basis of color, creed, religion, country, state and physical appearances. Also we all should ensure that the animals are also not wantonly killed.

During these times the world is already reeling under the grip of Covid19 pandemic and additional problems of racial riots are not required. In my opinion all the hysteria being churned on social media is  by persons wanting to become famous of having been under spot light or involved in actions against racism or animal killing to garner their two minutes of fame. So what do you think?? Do let me know your thoughts

Retaliatory killing of wildlife India- A bane to conservation efforts

Recent death of a tigress named Bagahinala and two of its cubs due to poison at Pench, Madhya Pradesh is a big blow to conservation and this incident has made me pen few thoughts on the issues that are being currently being debated on various media portals. It has been suggested that the persons involved may be road contractor who has moved in with migrant workers who had poisoned the water hole and i fail to understand as to why this was done since the reason given was to kill deer and boars for their meat... now the poison killing the animal can kill humans too... hence this confusion.

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/tigress-2-cubs-found-dead-in-madhya-pradeshs-pench-tiger-reserve-1292513

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/orang-national-park-tigress-poisoned-to-death-in-nearby-village/

                     Images : Courtsey Google Images from various new media

Man- animal conflict has been the major cause for death of wildlife be it the tiger, leopard or the elephant in India next to poaching which is quite prevalent in most forests even though the official claim that the poaching is on decline. This is untrue. Man animal conflict has always been present on the fringes of the forest but then with further encroachment into the forest by the local villagers be it for grazing of their cattle / sheep in the forest(to save recurring cost of fodder), hunting of deer & wild boars for their meat consumption has greatly enhanced this conflict. This is true for most reserves and forests in India and additionally hotels /resort buildings are cropping up within the buffer zone thereby reducing the habitat.

The habitat of wildlife is shrinking each day due to the greediness of the human beings be it the government  in the name of development or just individuals who live on the fringes of the forest  encroaching into the forest land. Just today there was news on the TV about an elephant on rampage at Gudalur, Nilgiris Tamilnadu and has killed or injured few human beings. Local populations along with the local political leaders was conducting a strike in front of Forest department office and were demanding that the elephant be shot dead to prevent further incidents. Similar demands were made few months back when a tiger killed a person in the same area (Gudalur) and the tiger was shot to death to appease the locals. Also recently a tiger killed a cattle herder on the fringes of Bandipur and similar situation warranted shooting of the tiger to appease the villagers. Recently a leopard was found dead due to poisoning at Bandipur, Karnataka and tigress poisoned in Orang , Assam , tiger at Koidaikanal, Tamilnadu and these area cause of worry to the conservationist all over the country. Anonymous sources in department say the Villager living on the fringes of the forest or within the forest hold the sword of Damocles over the department, that if no action is taken they would resort to poisoning of wildlife and it may have serious consequences to all animals in the vicinity.

Reduction in habitat has issues in addition to man- animal conflict... fights among animals especially predators who are territorial and this often leads to death of the predators if not driven out to the buffer areas or out of the forest. The number of deaths due to territorial fights may not be as much as the other causes of death as written above.The year 2016 is been bad for tigers in India and as on date official record of tiger deaths is 24 as on 31^st March ..See the list here  but there are many more that we have come to know on social media network that is not included in the list. The body parts of 11 tigers have been seized which means these tigers have also been killed but not listed in earlier list of tiger deaths.See here for body parts

Conservationist have been keeping only the statistics of tiger deaths since the wild tiger population was decimated from estimated 100,000 few decades back to just 2236 numbers as per the last census taken in 2015. There have been innumerable death of leopards and elephants due to poisoning, road kills and mob frenzy that has not come to limelight but does get a passing mention in regional news papers .

How do we address this issue in longer run to conserve wildlife?? Well proper and timely compensation needs to be meted out to villagers for their loss by the forest department instead of procrastinating once the correctness of the incident is ascertained / Verified. To follow the norms set by NTCA with respect to killing of tigers if involved. Try increasing the habitat by relocating the villagers living on the fringes and buffer areas with appropriate compensations. This is not too much to ask of the department and am sure if done judiciously there may be decrease of such incidents in India.

Conservationists , NGO's and wildlife lovers are frustrated with the actions being taken by government , apex tiger body NTCA and forest officials. There has been an immense protest that had been going on for quite a few months because of T24 Ustad case of RTR and finally even the Supreme Court dismissed the petition by a nature lover for reintroducing of T24 into the wild from its captivity in zoo. Protests happening in Pench for pushing the authorities to find the culprits and also to ensure more vigilant force to avoid such deaths.

I only hope that our future generations are able to enjoy wildlife in their natural habitat and not in their school books and zoo. This is possible only if effective actions are taken immediately by all concerned after putting their egos into the closet.