Fishes - Home

The increasing use of pesticides for protection of agricultural crops has some
repercussion on animal life. The pesticides used are generally quite potent
and destroy not only the insects against which they are aimed but also
surrounding life such as rodents, reptiles, frogs and fishes which may absorb
the poison through food or water or otherwise. The chemical and other
factories located on creeks and river banks usually discharge their effluent
into the nearby waters; and rarely care is taken to ensure that the effluent is
harmless to aquatic life. Whenever a carnivore like the lion or tiger or
panther clashes with interests of man or tries to live on his livestock such
animal is doomed: it is destroyed sooner or later — either being declared
vermin and openly shot or being poisoned quietly as revenge by owners of
the livestock. There is no dearth of potent poisons for the purpose, and little
can be done to save such carnivores.
Lastly come the organised shoots for dignitaries and VIPs as well as shoots
allowed on permits. In case of the former, the dignitary himself may be
content with a modest bag that complies with the game rules but the
occasion may well be utilised by the entourage and others to take full
advantage of the facilities provided and to bag as many trophies as possible.
In case of shoots on permits, too, the same effect can be in evidence
occasionally; and more animals would be shot than indicated by the records.
In every such case, however, the villagers living in the neighbourhood who
witness the shoots (for V.I.P.s or on permits) cannot help feeling why they
should be deprived of the sport or trophies, merely because they are not rich
or prominent and it is certain from experience that several animals are killed
by people who see organised shoots, but cannot participate in them and who
make their own arrangements for their share of trophies, human nature being
what it is.
All in all, wild life is having a trying time, and fears have been expressed by
knowledgeable persons about the impending extermination of such
wonderful wild animals of India as the Tiger and the Panther. Already
blackbuck, spotted deer, sambar and wild pig have been wiped out in large
areas of Maharashtra State, and the carnivores whose natural food is formed
by them are bound to go the same way either directly or after clashing with
human interests in some form or other.
FAUNA 16