Hunters who continue to ignore the two-year ban imposed by the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources may fuel another ban on hunting. This according to Game Warden Steve Seepersad, who spoke to the Guardian from his office at the Forestry Division’s South office, yesterday. “Based on the data done by the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), we don’t know if another ban may be put in place,” said Seepersad.
“If you talk to hunters who have been hunting for years, they will tell you there is not much wildlife left to hunt.” Seepersad spoke following the seizure of three iguanas from hunters in Siparia on Tuesday by officers of the Siparia Police Station. “One of them (iguanas) is pregnant, she has eggs in her stomach. When hunters continue to hunt the mothers, eventually there will be no young left,” said Seepersad.
“There are some areas where these animals no longer exist, the number of hunters have increased while the animals keep decreasing.” He added that once there continues to be a demand for “wildmeat” there will continue to be a supply. Minister of Environment and Water Resources, Ganga Singh, who spoke to the Guardian briefly yesterday, echoed Seepersad’s statement that the number of animals have decreased significantly.
“The density count on animals per capita has been completed in Trinidad and while I don’t want to speculate on the final decision, the preliminary data is not good,” said Singh. Singh said a final decision would be made when all the data is complied. “UWI is currently doing a density count in Tobago, when the data is complied and presented to the Ministry, then we will decide whether to lift the ban or to renew it.”
Latest case
Three men were spotted on the side of the road in Syne Village Siparia with the reptiles and when they were questioned by the officers, they admitted to have hunted the reptiles. They were arrested and the reptiles seized and handed over to Seepersad. The men will reappear before a Siparia magistrate on Tuesday for sentencing. They can face fines of $1,000 for each of the reptiles.
About the ban
On October 1, 2013, Minister of the Environment and Water Resources, Ganga Singh announced a two-year ban on hunting. Singh said at the time over 140,000 wild animals were hunted and killed in T&T in the three-year period preceding the announcement and the measure was to keep them from going extinct. Increased fines and jail time were also implemented in an attempt to ensure that wildlife was not hunted during the ban.