For that perefect finesse

This read, many of those who are artistic painters, might not like.

Well, have you ever wondered about the source of the fibers or hair on the paint brushes? A really, really long time ago, it was camel hair and now of course, it is all manufactured on the machine. But for those ‘real’ artists looking for the perfect bristles to get that award winning finesse, the most commonly used material is mongoose hair.

Recently, officials seized 54,352 paintbrushes made out of mongoose hair and 113 kilograms of raw mongoose hair. This illegal trade is a thriving multi-crore industry that results in the death of thousands of mongooses across India every month. In this pursuit for great finesse, we are close to the endangering of these species. This is a profitable business because brushes made of mongoose hair costs five times more than other brushes.

For every kilogram of mongoose hair that is used in brushes, about 50 animals are killed. In 2019, a total of 54,352 brushes and 113 kgs of raw mongoose hair were recovered. Can you imagine how many mongoose were killed for just that right brush stroke?

So on one hand we have so much attention to protect the tiger, rhinoceros and the Asiatic elephants. But what about the mongoose? Because it is not visible and not huge, it gets no attention. We might notice it only when it has been completely wiped out and then we have to merely read about it in folk tales of the mongoose and the snake….