This petition is to get public support to save the beautiful and harmless animal from the Deer species which we fondly know by the name of 'Nilgai'. It is mostly found in North and Central India and more prominently in the Aravallis. It is very shy animal and remains mostly out of sight by humans.
• However recently, due to rapid expansion in cultivable land, residents of Haryana have converted the last known reserves of this animal to their fields. These residents allege that Nilgai causes widespread destruction to crops and therefore need to be culled. The only reason that stops them is that Nilgai is protected animal under the Schedule III of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 since it is basically a deer. More so, there are existing provisions where you can still kill them provided the farmers prove that they are a threat to your crops. However, most villagers want to kill them for easy meat. Shame!!
• Now the Haryana Government in order to appease the villagers (Vote Bank), want to change the current protected status of this animal to 'Vermin' which means it can be hunted indiscriminately. It is a no-brainer to guess that this will only lead to widespread killing of this animal for its skin, meat and bones after which we will have to eventually declare this an endangered animal. Other lesser known wild life animals such as Pangolins, Sea Cows, Loris which we no more see in India in their natural habitats have suffered the same fate. We can stop happening that from Nilgai while we can!
My request to Haryana Government is that if this animal is a genuine threat to the crops of farmers, only they be allowed to kill it. But not in any way, this beautiful, shy and harmeless animal be declared a 'Vermin' so that it can be hunted by anyone and everyone. Story in Hindustan Times regarding the Topic:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/haryana-to-change-nilgai-s-name-to-allow-culling/story-CxCXqmOHLT7omYlampo4eL.html
