JOIN USShould stun guns be used to scare wild animals that stray into human habitations? While the last has not been heard about the debate, Kerala’s Forest Department has procured jazzy guns for its forest guards, writes Atula Gupta
Jazzy new guns in the hands of Kerala’s forest rangers can easily be mistaken to be straight out of a sci-fi movie. But what these men now possess is not destructive artillery, rather guns that are touted to be ‘non-lethal weapons’ meant to aid them in tackling wild animals straying into human habitations. In a state where the growing rift between the concrete jungle and the wild population is fast becoming an everyday challenge, the use of stun guns, as they are called, is an attempt to negotiate the conflict peacefully, or so it seems.
Stun guns or Taser guns have been ordered by the Kerala Forest Department from a US-based company known to supply the same kind of guns to law enforcement officials in America and other countries. It is not new technology. Criminals and law offenders have been subdued using these guns in varied situations to avoid lethal injury.
What is new is the use of the same gun on wild animals. “We have lost many lives because we could neither shoot the animal down nor save the victim. Stun guns will be used in life-and-death situations where there is hardly any time for response,” a senior forest official said. He said this device could even be used for overpowering elephants that go on the rampage under ‘musth’. “Usually, it takes hours to calm down such elephants. But one shot from this gun can bring an elephant to its knees, and then mahouts can take over.”
Controversial choice
A stun gun is so named because it stuns the individual it is used on. Electricity of 50,000 volts temporarily incapacitates the person by jamming the nervous system and causing immediate muscle contractions. This gives law officials valuable time to take the suspect into custody.
Helpful though they are, these guns are not completely without risk. On quite a few occasions, the suspects who have been ‘stunned’ have had cardiac arrests, remained unconscious or suffered excessive muscular pain.
According to recent research in the US, stun guns are controversial weapons. In America, some 2,60,000 electronic control devices or stun guns, are in use in 11,500 law enforcement agencies.
From his four-year-long study, William Terill, a criminologist found that while citizen injuries increased, officer injuries decreased with the use of these guns. He notes that these devices are effective and the discretion of use lies completely on the officer’s shoulders.
He has to judge the situation and weigh the risks of sending an electric shock to an offender which might turn fatal.
When there is debate on the safety of the stun guns used on humans, the same dark clouds loom over the wild animals that won’t be even able to verbalise their discomfort.
Safety at stake
Animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi feels there are many other options to subdue an animal and stun guns are not a favoured choice.
She says the first difficulty is that these guns need to be used from a short range which might be challenging when used on a wild animal on a rampage. Also there are no definite studies that suggest that the animals will not display the same discomfort as experienced by humans due to the electric jolt. It might actually have an elevated affect on them leading to injuries or fatalities.
“There has not been any study done on its impact of this weapon on animals. We are not addressing the real problem, but only trying to find short-term solutions that will create more health problems for animals,” she says.
On the upside, the stun guns may actually be able to save some precious lives, both human and animals.
More often than not when a wild animal enters a village or a town, the immediate reaction of the general public is that of panic. The animal panics too and in its cornered state, knows the only way to escape is by defending itself.
Forest officials need a tool in such situations that will douse the animal’s natural instinct to kill, without also harming it fatally. The Taser gun can buy that extra time needed to secure the animal for its own safety and that of many children and adults.
Wildlife experts claim that using other methods such as nets and traps can be slow and not always effective and immobilising drugs are unreliable and sometimes fatal. In some situations, the only option if the taser gun is not available would be euthanising the animal.
What is important here is to note that the gun is just a tool and should not be used in exclusion to other tools.
The risk is great that officers wanting a quick and easy method of capture or restraint may choose the gun over nets or traps. The non-lethal weapon’s use should not be convenience but what is least harmful to the animal while keeping people safe as well.