Destruction of life by wild animals and venomous snakes in India / by Sir J. Fayrer.

  • Joseph Fayrer
Date:
[1878]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Destruction of life by wild animals and venomous snakes in India / by Sir J. Fayrer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Captain Eogers depicted in strong and vivid colours the immense and irreparable injury caused by wild animals in remote parts of the country, as will be seen from the following extract from his letter:—“By killing as they do these cattle, not only are the villagers losers, but also the Government in an indirect way.” It is by these people, and these people, again, assisted by their live agricultural stock, that the vast jungles are becoming tracts of cultivated country; but the wild beasts greatly retard the same, and act as a considerable check on the energies of those unfor- tunates, who are now, to a great extent, at the mercy of any tiger or other beast of prey that may take up its quarters in their district. No thefts or murders in India can exceed the horrors and misery caused by the wild animals, and no picture or language can give even a faint idea of the sufferings of their victims. Those poor creatures, living as they do, for the most part, in districts seldom or ever visited by any European except an occasional sportsman, are obliged to bear their losses or sufferings with little or no chance of the same being brought to the notice of the Government whose subjects they are. I now look upon it in the light of a question involving the lives of hundreds of persons yearly, and, in a second and less serious light, as affecting the loss of cattle to the value of many lakhs of rupees for the same period, and the same being almost entirely the only worldly property of thousands of half- starved creatures of a much more honest and truthful disposition than the inhabitants of the towns and villages in the immediate vicinity of our stations. Captain Rogers would organise the shikarees of every district into regular bands, with jemadars over them, and supply them with guns and am- munition, exempting these selected shikarees from the usual payment for licenses for their guns. He said that, where bows and arrows were used by the natives, the same contrivance as that sug- gested by him would operate with fatal results in the destruction of wild animals. He would fix the reward at 8 Rs. only, “but never more, except under special circumstances, having no reference to the damage the tiger is doing, but to any extra trouble or injury the shikharee has sustained in killing it.” The total reported loss of human life in the three years of 1866-67, 1867-68, and 1868-69, from wild beasts and venomous snakes, was no less than 38,218,* or 12,736 per annum; and that the ex- penditure incurred by Government in rewards for the destruction of noxious animals amounted to 455,755 Rs., or 151,918 Rs. per annum. Bengal appears to have suffered most, upwards of 21,000 lives having been lost during the period ; that is, nearly 5,000 more than the number lost throughout the rest of India. This certainly throws serious doubts on the accuracy of the returns from the other provinces. Next to Bengal, are the North- Western Provinces ; Oudh, the Central Provinces, and Madras stand third, fourth, and fifth, respec- tively ; British Burmah showing the least loss of all. As regards expenditure, the Central Provinces stand first in the list, having spent a lakh and 65,000 rupees ; that is, nearly three times as much 1 as Bengal. Next to the Central Provinces stands Madras, where the expenditure amounts to 80,000 rupees. Bengal stands third in this respect, having spent only 62,000 rupees ; Punjab is fourth, and British Burmah has been the least expensive of all. The excessive expenditure in the Central Pro- vinces may be in some measure owing to the ex-! tremely high scale of rewards prevailing in these provinces. One hundred rupees for a “ man- eating” tiger, and fifty rupees for a “full-grown” tiger, are not paid anywhere else. It may not be possible to secure uniformity in regard to the scale of rewards. But, presumably, the Government of India can, with great advantage, lay down a maximum limit for each species, on a considera- tion of the rates prevailing in the different parts of the country, leaving it to the local governments to propose higher rewards in the case of any specially destructive and dangerous animals. None of the local governments suggest any specific measures for adoption beyond the system of rewards now in force; and almost all subordi- nate officers whom they have consulted agree in condemning Captain Roger’s mechanism as un- suited to the territory under their jurisdiction, or as dangerous and full of risk to human beings and domestic animals. For a brief analysis of the opinions given by the local governments, the reports may be divided into three heads :— 1. The destruction of wild animals, and Captain Rogers’ plan. 2. Destruction of poisonous snakes ; and 3. Disposal of the skins of wild animals killed. As regards the destruction of wild animals and Captain Rogers’ plan, local officers in the Lower Provinces consider the system of offering rewards to be practically the best, and recommend no change in this respect. The*Lieutenant- Governor thinks that much good might be done by en- couraging local. officers in districts in which the loss of life and cattle is great, “ to organise at suitable seasons, and at a small expense to Govern- ment, large hunting parties, to destroy the particuar class of beasts found to be destructive,” as such a course would give the people courage, and incite them to organise similar hunts themselves, and also teach them to make a stand against a danger that is now destroying their substance and them- selves. His Honour would also encourage the police to destroy noxious wild animals by allowing them the usual rewards. The Madras Board of Revenue considers it “ the bounden duty of Government to do something for the destruction of wild animals and the pro- tection of life and property from their ravages,” but does not think it necessary to depart from the present system of rewards. The Government of the North-Western Pro- vinces, writes :—“Upon the whole, the Lieutenant- Governor is of opinion, that the existing system answers well, and no material alteration need be recommended. Wherever there is any unusual prevalence of destructive animals, his Honour con- siders that the Government should have authority, as within budget limits it already possesses, to increase the rates of reward for their destruction. And where individual animals become notorious as occasioning loss of life, such as man-eating tigers and rogue elephants, liberal rewards should * Wild beasts, 12,554; snakes, 25,364. Total, 38,218.
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