Vijay Garg
Recently, there was a severe terror of wolves in Bahraich, the border district of Uttar Pradesh. In the wolf attacks that started last March, the biggest victims so far have been small children in the area. So far, about a dozen people, including nine children, have died in these attacks, while more than forty people have been injured. Most of the injured are also children. Thus, not only wolves, but also very dangerous and dangerous wild animals like elephant, lion, jackal, leopard, leopard, bear and tiger,The incidents of infiltration into settlements and their attacks on humans, especially children, elderly and women, are increasing day by day. Attacks by tigers, bears, leopards and wild elephants in Maharashtra, jackals in Madhya Pradesh and wild elephants in the North-Eastern states are a common occurrence.
These events are undoubtedly extremely tragic and horrifying. Therefore, it is right for people to be angry, but the question is that after all, do people have the right to roam freely in the forest, hunt small wild animals and feed themselves and their families and generallyWhy did these wolves, who used to live with their families, become so ferocious that they started killing small innocent children and eating them? In fact, due to haphazard felling of forests across the country, the habitat of wild animals is getting destroyed day by day. Today the total population of the world has exceeded eight billion and every year more than twice that amount, about eighteen billion trees, are being cut. There can be only one way to compensate for this indiscriminate cutting of trees and that is by planting new trees at a rapid pace and taking care of them. i.e. the number of trees per yearAt least the same number of trees that are being cut should be planted across the world. However, it takes many years for those plants to become trees. Therefore, in reality, at the current rate and pace of plantation, it is not possible to grow new forests in place of the forests that are being continuously destroyed. Planting trees is the best option to save both the natural habitat of wild animals and the environment, but to achieve complete success in this work, the pace of tree planting will have to be increased to such an extent that the number of trees cut every year around the world is reduced. SOne and a half times less number of trees should be planted. Currently, only five billion trees are being planted across the world compared to eighteen billion trees being cut down every year. Obviously, it will not be possible to compensate for the indiscriminate cutting of trees in this way. Indiscriminate cutting of trees continues in India also. In response to a question in the Lok Sabha, the then Union Environment Minister had said on March 21, 2022 that during the year 2020-21, about 31 lakh trees were cut for the construction and development of public infrastructure projects in India. ForestBy running a scheme of compensatory afforestation in lieu of the trees cut under the (Conservation) Act, the Central Government planted more than 3.6 crore saplings at a cost of Rs 359 crore, which seems inadequate, because at present no data is available regarding which of them. How many plants were saved and how many were left to perish. However, due to indiscriminate deforestation, the natural habitat of wild animals is shrinking day by day, which has created a problem of food and water for them.
That is why wild animals keep searching for food and water.And have been forced to migrate towards settlements. Although wolves are ferocious by nature, not all wolves are man-eaters. However, they are very adept at taking revenge, hence if any attempt is made to harm them or their family members, they do not tolerate it at all and take revenge from their enemies. About twenty-five years ago, a similar incident came into limelight, in which more than fifty innocent children of the area were killed in wolf attacks on the banks of river Sai in Jaunpur and Pratapgarh districts of Uttar Pradesh.Upon investigation of the deaths of the children, it was found that some human children had entered a den of wolves and killed two of their children, in retaliation the wolves attacked and killed more than fifty innocent human children. The pier was lowered. During that time, some wolves were caught in the wolf-catching campaign run by the Forest Department, but the man-eating pair present among them always remained safe and became successful in their attempts to take revenge. However, later the man-eating wolves were controlled by the forest department.The bloody terror of the wolves was finally ended. If you pay attention, the same behavior of wolves is seen in the incidents in Bahraich also.
Therefore, the possibility that wolves may be taking revenge for harming or killing their children cannot be ruled out. However, the sad thing is that once again the lives of wolves are in danger, because the government has ordered to shoot them.
However, if we look at the government actions taken against wolves,The darkest side of life is of the British era, when hunters killed more than one lakh wolves in forty years by running a big campaign to kill wolves on behalf of the British government and also received a reward from the British Raj. If seen, this series of ongoing conflicts between humans and wild animals is very serious and worrying. Therefore, it is important to find a solution in time, otherwise this problem can become extremely serious.
It is necessary that the Central and State Governments take advice from wildlife experts andLet us take some concrete and positive steps towards preserving the natural habitats of animals and developing forests by running afforestation campaigns on a large scale, so that our wild animals can live freely in their homes without any worries. It is possible that it may take many years for these efforts to bear fruit, but in the meantime one thing that can be done is to treat these wild animals lovingly. There is no doubt that if instead of cruelty against these wild animals, kindness is shown and they are pampered, then There may also be a change in their violent behavior towards humans.
(The writer is Principal and Educational Columnist)
