Cheap guns lead to shift in traditional hunting in Nagaland

Among Indigenous Naga tribes in India’s northeastern state of Nagaland, hunting traditions are transforming as cheap homemade guns make targeting commercially valuable large mammals easier, a recent study finds.

“Indigenous hunting preferences are rooted in cultural traditions but have evolved under the influence of economic pressures and environmental changes,” Satem Longchar, conservation ecologist and the study’s lead author, told Mongabay by phone. “The use of modern weapons like cheap homemade firearms has increased the efficiency of hunting, resulting in a decline in wildlife.”

Indian laws prohibit wildlife hunting, but they’re mostly ineffective in Nagaland, where Indigenous tribes manage around 88% of the state’s forest, the paper notes.

To better understand how and what the communities hunt and how they perceive wildlife conservation, the researchers interviewed 45 hunters across 10 villages around two areas: Khelia Community Forest in eastern Nagaland and Intangki National Park. The team also installed 156 camera traps in both forests.

The interviews revealed that 78% of the hunters owned cheap, homemade firearms for hunting, using them along with traditional methods such as snares, traps, bows and plant poisons.

Meanwhile, the cameras photographed 31 species of wild mammals. While the hunters said they hunt all these species, they primarily target large-bodied mammals, including barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak), wild boar (Sus scrofa), Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) and sun bears (Helarctos malayanus). These are valued both for consumption and sale.

Some 87% of the hunters reported a decline in wild animals over the period they’ve been hunting. “With larger wildlife becoming scarce, hunters are increasingly shifting toward smaller prey and opportunistic hunting, not conforming to traditional ethics like seasonal hunting and restrictions from hunting rare species,” Longchar said.

She added that transboundary trafficking of wildlife parts from Nagaland to Southeast Asian countries, such as the targeting of bears for their bile in areas bordering Myanmar, poses a significant threat to conservation. “Wildlife hunting for trade is driven by poor economy of the state, especially in rural areas where agriculture is the primary livelihood,” she said.

Many interviewed residents acknowledged wildlife is dwindling due to forest clearance and overhunting, yet their inclination toward conservation remains low, the study found, due to reasons such as lack of time due to farming and the absence of economic incentives.

“Conservation initiatives must recognise the cultural and economic realities of Indigenous communities,” Longchar said.

Bano Haralu of the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society in Nagaland, who wasn’t involved in the study, told Mongabay by phone that the study “reflects ground reality” in Nagaland. “We must prioritise educating Indigenous youth before cultural traditions are lost, given the ongoing infrastructural developments and habitat loss in the region.”

Longchar said that despite the “ugly reality of hunting,” her study also highlights the persistence of Nagaland’s biodiversity. “Hope the outcome of my study brings awareness, instead of discriminations towards Nagaland.”