Humane Committees Conduct Awareness Programs as the Hunting Season Approaches

6 February – 19 March 2024

As the 2024 hunting season approaches, the Humane Committees established in Jhargram and West Medinipur districts have conducted awareness camps on three separate occasions in recent weeks. These efforts aim to discourage local participation in hunting festivals and prevent the killing of wildlife. HEAL participated in all these awareness programs upon invitation from the Committees.

Members of the Humane Committee addressing the audience

Humane Committees are court-appointed bodies formed as a result of HEAL’s persistent litigation efforts in seven districts of West Bengal, where large-scale hunting festivals and organized wildlife poaching are rampant. Chaired by the District Judge, these committees include the District Forest Officers (DFOs), District Magistrates (DMs), Superintendents of Police (SPs), high-ranking officials from the Railway Protection Force (RPF), along with civil society member and conservationist, Tiasa Adhya, as stakeholders in the committee.

Suvrajyoti Chatterjee, HEAL’s Secretary delivers his talk at an awareness program
Gram panchayat leaders and local villagers in attendance at one of the sessions

The District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) in Jhargram organized two ‘Legal Awareness Programs’ on 06 February and 06 March, 2024 inviting Gram Panchayat leaders and several locals from villages dominated by the hunting community in Jhargram. Following initial addresses by the DLSA, DM and SP, HEAL delivered a talk, supported by a PowerPoint presentation, on the effects of indiscriminate hunting on the ecosystem and hunting communities that have given up hunting to conserve wildlife. The programs served as an important opportunity to initiate dialogue with the hunting community in order to dissuade them from participating in hunting festivals and needlessly killing wildlife for recreation.

Residents of one of the villages during an awareness session
Local villagers in attendance during the awareness session at Jhargram

Later, on 19 March the Office of Midnapore Range Officer organised an awareness program where HEAL, along with members from other local NGOs were invited to engage with members from the hunting communities. During the program, we tried to impress upon the participants the need to relinquish hunting festivals and instead adopt alternative community-driven activities, such as ecotourism which promote wildlife conservation.