In a move to discourage people from hunting, the Union Ministry of Forest on Thursday launched an ‘Air Gun Surrender’ campaign to prevent poaching of animals and birds.
Since Air Guns do not require any arms license, people in remote areas carry such air guns for hunting small animals and birds. “Many people in rural areas use Air Guns for hunting birds as a result the number of birds is decreasing rapidly,” said a senior officer of the Union Forest and Environment Ministry.
The campaign would be launched across the country and the Government would rope in retired forest workers, representatives of social organizations to make this campaign a success. As per the scheme, retired forest workers would approach villagers and convince them to shun hunting.
The campaign was launched by Union Forest Minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey in Itanagar. He further appealed to people not to hunt animals and birds.