The hunting season, declared open as one of the first official acts of Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat, continues to make scary news about the fate of T&T wildlife, unprotected and other.
Media images of dead animals taken from the wild may have indulged a taste for the macabre, but have certainly illustrated an all-out assault on the stock of local fauna that is troublingly unsustainable.
At Divali, cruise ship visitors were privileged to savour curried iguana and dumplings at Crown Point. If such a gastronomic treat encourages return visits to Tobago, the tourists cannot be sure any restaurant there will again be able to offer that menu item.
Tobago’s own unhappy wildlife experience is available for instructing present practice across the nation.
Papa Bois Conservation director Marc De Verteuil argues that a total killing-off is possible of animals favoured as wild meat. “Tobago has already lost deer as a species,” he warned.
It is a well-founded fear is that the free-rein slaughter for wild meat, enabled by the lifted hunting ban, could lead to the extermination of some species.
Conservationists and government officials agree on the absence of data on which to base regulation to allow for some limited and regulated hunting, and the natural replacement of slaughtered wildlife.
Under the direction of Minister Rambharat, however, the policy decision has been to err on the side of giving the hunters and their dogs the all-clear.
The result, as seen by Papa Bois, is “a tragedy of the commons”. Since nobody owns the forest, and officials are almost never keeping watch, “individuals just take what they can”.
Apparently, anybody so moved can legally become a hunter, just by paying a trifling $20 for a permit. Mr De Verteuil also points out that prices for an agouti, reaching as high as $400, serve as incentives for the hunter-entrepreneurs of today, who hardly spare a thought for the prospects of tomorrow.
Regulation is absent or inadequate. Non-enforcement of existing law is lamented even by Minister Rambharat.
He worries aloud that no police prosecution has been triggered by the media image of a recognisable someone “roasting the carcass of an anteater”, a protected species.
The minister is thus obliged ineffectually to rely on just the moral suasion of urging freed-up hunters to “be responsible”.
If the new administration has a plan for filling this vacuum of regulation and enforcement, Mr Rambharat should make clear what it is. Meanwhile, wild meat hunters, and eager gourmands, continue to enjoy what could be the last of their glory days.
Express Editorial
- Published on Nov 12, 2015, 7:00 pm AST On: trinidadexpress.com
Caiere Chase does not claim any rights to this article. All rights to this article belongs to the author and the original publisher. This article has been reproduced here for news, critique and archival purposes.
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