At the eleventh hour at the end of September, 2013, Minister Ganga Singh declared a two-year moratorium on hunting, effective October 2013, without giving sufficient notice to hunters.Where was the justification to prove a scarcity of wildlife? There was no accurate data and it cannot be justified by their "gran charge" consultations, through which there was an attempt to impose on citizens a committee to control the administration of wildlife.
Every year hunters are a faced with the dilemma–hunting season or no hunting season? During the hunting season, the presence of hunters in the forest drastically reduces illegal activities such as:
1) setting of trap guns,
2) marijuana cultivation,
3) storage of illegal firearms by bandits in forests,
4) using the cover of the forests for kidnappings and other heinous crimes, such as rapes and murders,
5) storage and stripping of stolen vehicles,
6) praedial larceny,
7) illegal logging operations,
8) importing of guns and drugs, using the forested coastline as points of entry,
9) hunting of protected animals,
10) minimising sabotage in the oil industry in forested areas.
Instead of infringing on the rights of hunters, the Minister needs to expend his efforts to aggressively address more serious and urgent national issues, such as:
1) effluent from factories and other industries polluting the waterways,
2) effluent from service stations polluting our rivers and streams,
3) hillside land development for housing etc, causing massive flooding,
4) untreated sewage into waterways from houses located on banks of rivers and streams,
5) quarrying operations causing silting up and pollution of rivers (Guanapo),
6) illegal logging causing deforestation and damage to drains and roadways,
7) dumping of garbage on the roadside of our once beautiful country,
8) littering of our scenic rivers and beaches,
9) dumping of derelict vehicles and household appliances in our rivers causing massive flooding.
I cannot recall the last time any person was held for hunting in the closed season or for littering. I further suggest that instead of persecuting legal hunters, the Minister should make some seriously aggressive attempts to ensure the prosecution of those off-season, illegal hunters who are fattening their bank accounts while threatening the wildlife population. And those persons and corporations which continue to pollute and degrade the environment for which the Minister is responsible.
It seems to me that perpetrators of crime reap benefits aplenty and law-abiding citizens are under constant siege, while those in authority twiddle their thumbs and do not act for fear of upsetting their friends in their ivory towers.
Bheemal Ramroop,
Tacarigua