Hunting and eco-tourism

AT THE end of September, Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat, one of the few ministers to enjoy an unbroken run in a single ministry since 2015, formally halted all hunting in TT.

The ban was complete, intended to limit opportunities for public congregation as well as implement measures to manage the sale of wild meat, including illegally imported carcasses, a potential vector for infection.

But game wardens remain concerned about the illicit trade in wildlife, particularly the unlawful trade in monkeys and over-hunting of the blue and gold macaw. It is a brutal fact that for many Trinis, an animal in the wild is only useful when restrained as an unwilling pet or cooked in a pot.

That attitude, taken to its logical conclusion, only serves to scuttle any possibility of creating an active and engaged eco-tourism sector positioned to contribute to the economy.

Newsday columnist Elspeth Duncan has written about the remarkable experience of rescuing abandoned dogs in Tobago often left to roam the island's rainforests. More than a dozen of these animals have found homes abroad in Frankfurt and Massachusetts, creating their own legends about this country.

Conservationist Ricardo Meade, a co-founder of the El Socorro Centre for Wildlife Conservation, was concerned about what he described as "the lackadaisical approach from the protective arms who do not enforce the laws."

There is also more to be done to discourage animal smuggling into TT. There is clearly need to tighten up the national capacity for wildlife conservation efforts, and for greater collaboration with the Defence Force and Coast Guard to manage animal trafficking as well as illegal hunting.

There are 28 vacancies in the Forestry Division for game wardens, with just 14 available to police the country’s extensive forests and coastlines. Doing so in the face of pent-up demand by hunters, with inadequate resources, is a running chase with no profitable end.

Mr Rambharat was considering, as early as 2018, a ban on hunting in urban areas, out of concern for citizen safety and about hunting drifting into private lands.

Unsubstantiated reports suggested that iguanas were even being hunted with air rifles in Federation Park, Port of Spain. The desires of hunters must also be set against the need for national eco-tourism development, especially as Trinidad’s geography, unlike Tobago’s, is less than ideal for conventional tourism.

That might be met by a system of zoning, which allows hunters their run of designated areas during the active hunting season, while leaving eco-tourism areas free to flourish.

But TT may not be large enough to create zones large enough to satisfy either goal, and the government must be prepared decide whether killing wild animals is better business than building a sustainable eco-tourism industry.