Dear Editor,
It was indeed a pleasure reading in the Sunday Kaieteur that three persons were arrested for illegal hunting.
Many Guyanese have a false belief that Guyana can never be overhunted because of the large percentage of our land that is covered by jungle. This is a myth as the massive increase in forestry and mining activities have led to the opening up of our jungle; there are now many roads and paths that lead to areas which were once inaccessible. This coupled with a huge number of shotgun and rifle licences issued by the Guyana Police Force to members of the public has resulted in the slaughter and smuggling of our wildlife. Miners kill our wildlife by the thousands to feed their camps, and the exportation of wildlife is rampant; this is exacerbated by our population’s insatiable appetite for wild meat.
Guyana prides itself on its biodiversity; almost every poster that promotes Guyana contains pictures of our wildlife, yet the government continues to allow the mass hunting of our animals. Aren’t we selling a lie to eco-tourists when our advertisements practically guarantee a sighting of wildlife in their natural habitat? It would be interesting if data are collected from tourists showing actual sightings.
How can we as a nation allow such senselessness to continue unabated? What are we leaving for future generations?
Wouldn’t it be sensible to restrict hunting at certain periods of the year to allow for the resuscitation of wildlife stock? Costa Rica is a perfect example where government interventions have led to a complete revival of wildlife stock; tourists now flock to the country in their thousands for the eco-tourism experience where it is practically guaranteed that there will be an actual sighting of an animal in its natural environment.
Must we always remain a third world country with a third world mentality? Look at the developed world, they rake in millions of dollars every year from the sale of hunting and fishing licences, and some of this money is used to pay wildlife wardens. Why can’t we do the same? We desperately need the money, much more than the USA or Canada.
To those of you who will argue that it would be impossible to enforce more stringent hunting and fishing laws, I believe that once the fines are set very high (much higher than the cost of the licence) I guarantee you that every police officer will be on the lookout for hunters because the bribes would be very big. This is obviously not the ideal situation, but it would undoubtedly result in a massive reduction in illegal hunting as hunters will not want to pay the bribe. Being an optimist, I believe at some point our police will become professional and stop taking bribes. A way of achieving this would be to give a monetary reward to the police who are responsible for arresting illegal hunters; the reward can come from the funds received from the sale of licences.
Yours faithfully,
R Singh