Animals can’t vote, so we must in their interest
Animals, wild or otherwise, do not vote. It is thus left to State and non-State actors and the citizenry to be their spokespersons and vote in the interests of the non-human species we share our planet with
Elections in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Jammu and Kashmir have the media full of reports on the manoeuvring of various political actors as well as speculation and analysis on the electoral chances of the political parties in fray. As a conservationist, my thoughts often turn to what the various contenders for power have to say on the matter of wildlife and conservation. Issues related to wildlife conservation generally find little or no mention in most poll manifestos and campaigns, especially when it comes to assembly elections. To their credit, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress had included references to human-wildlife conflict (HWC) and the need to address the challenge in their manifestos for the parliamentary elections earlier this year.
How then might issues related to wildlife conservation figure prominently on the agenda of politicians? What if animals had a vote? Of course, if invertebrates could vote, they would easily form the largest voting block and it would be hard for vote-seekers to ignore the demands of flies, ants, centipedes, and millipedes among other invertebrates.
If, however, the vote was limited to the vertebrate species besides humans, the outcome would probably be very different. The last WWF Living Planet Report painted a depressing picture — a two-thirds decline in the population of vertebrate species globally. Not very encouraging; if they could vote, what might be the issues they would raise?
For instance, would the Great Indian Bustard, once a contender for the status of National Bird but whose numbers are less than 200 today, push those soliciting its vote to promise that they would ensure its arid grassland habitat is no longer diverted for other uses?
Would the Asian elephants vote for the party that promises the strictest punishment for failing to ensure that overhead electricity transmission lines are at the minimum prescribed height and not sagging, something that recently caused the death of several of their brethren by electrocution? They might even ask for action to be taken against those who illegally draw power from overhead transmission lines in a desperate bid to protect their crops from depredation by wildlife and end up killing wild animals, including elephants, that come into contact with the live wires.
Might the river dolphins that rely on sound for communication, navigation, and feeding ask for curbs on heightened activity and sound on river ways they inhabit?
Animals, wild or otherwise, do not vote. It is thus left to State and non-State actors and the citizenry to be their spokespersons and vote in the interests of the non-human species we share our planet with. The voting public and those who seek their votes need to turn their attention to issues that adversely impact and threaten the wild denizens we share space with. Wildlife will not have a vote but advocates for wildlife conservation do and the constituency of these voters needs to be large enough to compel the vote seeker to give conservation concerns their due once elected. No matter which party wins, governments, once elected, need to commit to wildlife preservation.
Yash Magan Shethia is director, Wildlife and Habitats, WWF-India.The views expressed are personal