For over a decade, HEAL has been working to address one of India’s most overlooked wildlife conservation challenges: large-scale illegal hunting festivals, across southern West Bengal.

Every year, between April-June, hunters gather across districts resulting in the indiscriminate killing of wildlife. These are not subsistence hunts driven by necessity but recreational hunts conducted under the garb of tradition. These are not isolated incidents but deeply embedded social events involving large-scale mobilisation and local organisation.

Against this backdrop, HEAL’s work over the past decade has helped bring unprecedented judicial attention, legal scrutiny & involvement of government to the issue. 

Since 2016, HEAL has:

– Documented ~55+ hunting festival dates across the state

– Investigated & provided photographic evidence of the ground realities across districts

– Filed public interest litigations leading to landmark High Court judgments against hunting festivals in 2018, 2019 & again in 2023

– Been instrumental in the formation of district-level Humane Committees formed pursuant to the Calcutta High Court’s order dated 20 February 2023, strengthening institutional action against organised hunting across districts.

– Continued to monitor hunting activity every year, in co-ordination with forest department and police personnel to ensure the implementation of Court orders on the ground.

The impact has been significant.

• Hunting festivals like the Faloharini Kali Pujo hunt in Howrah and East Medinipur have been completely stopped. 
• In other districts, hunting has reduced dramatically in scale and participation. 
• What was once openly celebrated is today increasingly recognised as a criminal activity. 
• Hunting groups now operate with a certain level of secrecy, reflecting a shift in both public perception and fear of enforcement.

Since April 2026, HEAL teams have once again been on the ground documenting hunting activity and sharing critical information with the Forest Department, Police and district administrations to support preventive action.

The challenge remains. But the landscape today is very different from what it was a decade ago.

Learn more about our work:
https://healearth.in/programmes/species-conservation/ritual-hunting-in-south-bengal/