In Arunachal Pradesh, why are packs of dholes preying on mithuns?

Early this year, when 40-year-old Taum Tamut went looking for his mithuns (Bos frontalis) in the forest surrounding his village Jomlo Mobuk in Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, he came across a grim sight. One of his mithuns lay dead, its carcass bearing the unmistakable marks of a dhole (Cuon alpinus) attack.

Taum, a member of the Adi tribe and a father of three young children, has around 50 mithuns and earns his livelihood by selling vegetables, broomsticks, and occasionally a mithun or two. “The dholes don't spare the mithun calves. Our calves have been eaten by the dholes. There are so many of them here,” says a distraught Taum.

Hundreds of kilometres away in Doimukh, 54-year-old Nabum Tania from the Nyishi tribe recounts a similar incident. “They (dholes) are notorious. They come in packs of 15 to 20 and take down a whole mithun,” he says. Tania lost seven of his 20 mithuns to dhole attacks since the beginning of this year. “For a poor farmer like me, it is a huge loss. Mithun is our lifeline. I sent my children to school by rearing and selling mithuns,” says Tania.

Like Taum and Tania, many farmers across Arunachal Pradesh have lost their mithuns, a semi-domesticated bovine, to dhole attacks. Since early 2025, districts such as Papum Pare, Siang, Upper Subansiri, West Siang, East Kameng, Lower Dibang Valley, and Changlang have reported a rise in dhole attacks on mithuns and other livestock.

Dholes in the state are turning to mithuns because their usual prey, like deer and wild boar, are wiped out by humans who hunt them for meat. Meanwhile, farmers who lose mithuns in these attacks are distressed as they are economically dependent on the animals. The situation is layered, linked to tradition, habitat and prey loss, and competing survival needs.

Range Forest Officer of Banderdewa Forest Division, Vijay Dupit, shares some details: “As per official records with us, more than 50 mithuns have been killed in Doimukh and in the Banderdewa division, which is the largest in Arunachal Pradesh. About 80 to 90% of this area falls under reserved forest.”

Senior Veterinary Officer from Doimukh, Dr TR Nabam Hina, estimates that the total number of mithun deaths could easily be around 70 when the entire Papumpare district is taken into account. “In addition to the 50-plus mithuns (in the forest department records), there are sporadic cases, two to six, every now and then,” he says.

Both dholes and mithuns are listed on the IUCN Red List – the dhole as “endangered” and mithun as “vulnerable”, as per the 2015 assessment.

Dholes prefer hoofed animals like deer and wild boar as their prey. In the absence of wild prey, they hunt free-ranging mithuns. Mithuns are semi-domesticated; they are not kept in enclosures like other cattle and they graze in the community forests in the villages, adding to their vulnerability.

Among tribes in Arunachal Pradesh, mithuns are symbols of status, prestige, and prosperity. Each mithun, a sacred bovine integral to tribal rituals and rural economies, is valued at Rs 80,000 to Rs 1,00,000. However, government compensation for a kill is around Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 and the slow, tedious claims process has left many farmers frustrated and helpless.

“The mithun has immense economic value. The animals act as savings for many upland communities in Arunachal Pradesh, who sell them in case of financial emergencies, for better healthcare, education and more,” says Abhishruti Sarma, a doctoral student at Ashoka University, and co-author of Changing Affinities: Ecologies of Human-Mithun Relationships in Northeast India.

Although hunting dholes is illegal, local village residents sometimes take matters into their own hands when a mithun is killed. While none of the farmers Mongabay India spoke to admitted to killing the wild dogs, video and photographic evidence suggests otherwise. “We even asked the forest department for permission to kill them, but they refused,” one farmer says on condition of anonymity.

Occasionally, other predators such as wild cats also prey on mithuns and are similarly hunted down in retaliation. Forest officials deny any confirmed cases of such killings, but the IUCN Red List notes that retaliatory deaths from livestock predation are a growing threat to dholes in North East India.

Independent researcher Priya Raghunandini Singh notes that hunting pressure on dholes is widespread across Arunachal, Mizoram, Nagaland, and other northeastern states. “Wherever dholes occur, they face threats from hunting,” she says, adding, “The recent sighting of a dhole in Karbi Anglong caused a stir, though it shouldn't have; it is their natural habitat. Their absence reflects decades of persecution and habitat loss.”

Taba Heli, joint director of the Composite Livestock Farm in Nirjuli, says dwindling prey due to rampant hunting and accelerating deforestation has driven dholes to target mithuns, especially calves.

Shifts in land use from traditional jhum cultivation to commercial cardamom and field crops, which requires clearing forests, are also altering forest dynamics. In addition, wild prey animals have been hunted, leaving predators like wild dogs and tigers with few options.

At a meeting with the deputy commissioner Jiken Bomjen, Range Forest Officer Dupit opposed villagers' demand to kill the wild dogs. “Many warned that if compensation doesn't come soon, they'll take matters into their own hands,” he says. He points out that the dholes target mithuns as they are left with limited options with the decline in wild prey population due to rampant hunting.

Dholes preying on mithun, however, is not new and has remained a pressing issue since the last two decades. Reports of the dhole and other predators attacking and preying on mithun were first received by the Wildlife Trust of India, New Delhi, in November 2000 from Sagalee, Papum Pare district.

A 2003 study by the Wildlife Trust of India states that “Mithun, a semi-domestic bovid is reported to be depredated regularly by predators, in particular the wild dog and the villagers retaliate by killing the predators.”

Arunachal Pradesh is home to more than 26 indigenous communities, 80% of whom are primarily agriculturalists using shifting cultivation, and most land is community owned.

“Many farmers don't realise that deforestation and hunting directly contribute to these conflicts. There have been initiatives like surrendering illegal guns, but the impact has been limited. For many, hunting and selling bushmeat is still a source of income, so unless alternative livelihoods are offered, these issues will continue,” Heli says.

Hunting has long been a tradition in Arunachal, with wild meat fetching high prices. Conservationist Talut Siram is one among many working to change this by hosting awareness programmes and encouraging airgun surrenders. “There is a demand for wild meat like deer, which sells for Rs 30k-Rs 40k. Unemployed people with no means of income take to making money by selling bushmeat,” says Siram.

Farmer groups have petitioned the state government for immediate compensation and long-term solutions for dholes attacking their mithun, but the forest department has hesitated to intervene, citing lack of jurisdiction over community-owned grazing lands.

Chukhu Taje, chairman of the Doimukh-Gumto Circle Mithun Farmers' Club, lost four of his 11 mithuns in the last six months to dhole attacks.

“After 52 mithuns were killed by dholes, we sought the help of social media and complained to the forest department. But we have not received compensation till date. It has been four to five months, and more mithuns have died since. We are disheartened,” Taje says. He denies that villagers are hunting in the area, adding that even fishing is banned.

Speaking about action taken to address the conflict, Range Forest Officer Dupit says the forest department has been conducting awareness sessions in villages and towns, explaining the importance of wildlife and forests. However, a major underlying issue remains the widespread use of single-barrel breech loading, or SBBL, guns.

According to Tadang Tamut , president of the Jomlo Mongku Mithun Farmers' Federation in Siang, and Talut Siram, SBBL guns were originally allowed for protection against Chinese aggression and wild animals. Today, however, they are no longer needed for that purpose and are instead used for hunting.

The unregulated use of single-barrel breech loading guns, commonly used by villagers to hunt wild animals, has led to excessive hunting of prey animals, leaving no prey for the wild dogs, which then attack mithuns.

While over 2,400 airguns have been voluntarily surrendered under the state's Airgun Surrender Abhiyan, SBBL guns remain common in households. “While many have surrendered airguns, SBBL guns remain largely untouched,” says Siram, who has been advocating for government-issued surrender notices for these firearms. “SBBL gun licences are meant for self-defence, but they are now being misused for hunting. In today's context, there is no real threat to life that justifies keeping them.”

Heli says he believes there is a need for more awareness campaigns in the state against wildlife hunting but says the department should first tackle the issue of wild dogs.

“There should be a dedicated, well-identified rehabilitation area where such animals can be relocated and properly cared for, similar to the way we have tiger reserves in Pakke Valley. This approach, like the centres run by WWF, would allow the Forestry and Environment Department to handle these issues more effectively,” Heli suggests. Unless balance is restored in the ecosystem and awareness among farmers increases, these conflicts will only escalate, he adds.

This article was first published on Mongabay.

Source: Scroll
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