Cull of the Wild: A Critique of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972

Abstract

The Indian Sub-continent boasts a variety of exotic wild animal species ranging from the Wild Indian Elephant to the rare Indian Bengal Tiger, and the Indian government has made multitudes of provisions for their safety and established various national parks and sanctuaries for their protection, these exotic wild animals still face threat to their lives from poachers and hunters all across India. While these criminal acts remain a constant threat to the wildlife of India, it is not the sole reason why the Indian
Wildlife is hunted and culled brutally and perhaps more importantly, legally, with the authority of the Indian Government. The present article presents a critique of section 62 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, aiming to highlight the abstract and arbitrary definition of vermin in the act, to identify the reasons for allowing such culling as well as emphasising on the reasons for the increased humananimal conflict between that species. It also aims to highlighting the lack of procedure for allowing the
selective slaughter of animals and provides a comparative to laws and practices of the European Union on the same. The article also presents an account of unconstitutionality of the law itself, ranging from individual to state centric approaches and finally suggest better alternatives and amendments to the legislation, for reducing the human-animal conflict in the society.