1. One of our toughest & longest battles to save #wildlife started on #WorldEnvironmentDay of 2016, when our team mates Suvrajyoti Chatterjee & Meghna Banerjee came to know about the horrific "ritualistic hunting festivals" of South Bengal.
2. We witnessed thousands of slaughtered wild #animals strewn across the railway platforms of Howrah & East Medinipur districts.
We faced both physical as well as verbal abuse from the hunters before we could even grasp the true extent of devastation inflicted by them.
3. Further inquiries revealed it was an annual affair celebrated on the occasion of Faloharini Kali Puja where thousands of armed mobs descend on the #forests & rivers of these two districts & decimate every #wildanimal they can find.
4. On that 05 June as we stood helplessly watching the killing of #protectedfauna, some of us promised to fight with everything we got to stop this senseless massacre in the garb of “rituals”.
7 years later, on #WorldEnvironmentDay2022, it's a completely different story.
5. We report with some satisfaction that the promise made on that fateful day amidst all the mutilated carcasses has been fulfilled to a large extent.
This year's hunting saw a drop of more than 98% compared to that in 2016, both in terms of number of hunters & #species hunted.
6.Multiple court battles resulting in orders placing a complete embargo on ritual hunting, numerous meetings with state officials & other stakeholders & a volunteer force with over 50 individuals, constantly monitoring & reporting hunters' movement, seem to have finally paid off.
7. During the hunt days, railway stations & main hunt locations in Howrah & E. Medinipur were all heavily guarded & constantly patrolled by Forest Dept. officials, Police, Railway Protection Force, General Railway Police & our army of volunteers.
8. Hunters were not allowed to embark at the railway stations to ensure that they are unable to reach the hunt locations.
As soon as any hunters’ group was spotted, their weapons were seized & they were sent back.
9. Miking in villages, anti-hunting messages over railway announcements & 24x7 monitoring by joint force of officials & volunteers continued from 26 to 30 May 2022.
Check posts were also set up with #forest officials & police at strategic locations to stop hunters coming by road.
10. Not many have the privilege or satisfaction of having made a real & tangible difference on the ground while celebrating the #WorldEnvironmentDay.
We are lucky to be amongst those few.
11.Stopping Faloharini Kali Puja hunt wouldn't have been possible without proactive & tireless efforts of Ms. Niranjita Mitra, DFO Howrah Forest Div., Anupam Kha, DFO E. Medinipur.
We thank the dedicated DFOs who remained on the field on hunt days & patrolled with their teams.
12. We are also thankful to RPF & GRP officials of Kharagppur Div., police officers & extremely grateful to volunteers from Howrah Jela Joutho Poribesh Mancho & Prasenjit Dawn’s students from Shyampur Siddheshwari Mahavidyalaya Eco-Club for their 24x7 surveillance.
#conservation
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