This I had to post sometime, it’s been on the back of my mind. About 2 km from the Forest Department office in the State capital Itanagar is the meat market where I have had more sightings of mammals than in the forests in my field site. Here I saw my first ever Binturong. The other species I have come across; giant squirrels, giant flying squirrels, crestless porcupine, macaque (either Assamese or Rhesus, cannot make out from the lump of meat), muntjacs, civets and even a wreathed hornbill.
Some may call it hunting for subsistence, who has the right to stop them from hunting in their own community-forests, don’t they have the right to eat meat, and so on. But when it is sold this way in the biggest capital city of the State, it is definitely not for subsistence and is for income. Why can't the rare species be spared: binturongs, hornbills and few other species. I think there should be a clear distinction between hunting for the pot and hunting for money. Well, each time I walk out of this market having seen some species being sold like I did today after seeing the crestless porcupine I wonder what could ever be a solution to this. I do not feel this bad when I see a species being brought back in the remote village I stay in for my field work where certainly not a gram of the meat is sold, it is distributed amongst the clan and family members.
In my opinion, hunting has at least three tiers to it. 1) hunting for consumption, 2) hunting for selling the meat such as the case here in this blogpost, 3) hunting for fur/ skin/ bone trade. I think the last form of hunting is the least justified one in comparison to the first.
I managed to take a picture of the porcupine yesterday, but I wonder if anyone could take pictures all the time in the market and keep interviewing the people without getting physically abused by the locals. I always leave the meat market quite morose and angry.
PS: The local newspapers covered this issue well and the Forest Department raided the market too. It seems like the issue is being taken up more seriously these days (May 2012).
PS: The local newspapers covered this issue well and the Forest Department raided the market too. It seems like the issue is being taken up more seriously these days (May 2012).
See this article from 21st December, 2023 too: https://arunachaltimes.in/index.php/2023/12/21/wildlife-officials-seize-carcasses-of-wild-animals-from-ganga-market/
I hope the issue is being addressed; it is indeed a very disturbing one.
