23rd June, 2017


There appears to be no let- up in smuggling of live and dead wildlife. In fact, it has seen a sharp increase as indicated by the value of seized "wildlife products" being smuggled to China from India through Nepal and Bhutan.
India sees wildlife smuggling rise by 121 per to China
Forest officials some seized tortoise from West Bengal. (PTI file photo)

The rise is 121 per cent so far this year-the highest since 2010.

Among the species smuggled out of the country live are Tokay gecko lizard, tortoise, turtle, peacock, hare, mongoose, dove, bulbul and snake sand boa. The illegal trade also includes body parts of dead animals like rhino horns, leopard skin and paw, deer horn and skull, rein deer skin, barking deer skin and elephant trunk.

Data from the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), a paramilitary force that guards the 1,751 km India-Nepal and the 699 km India-Bhutan border- showed the force seized wildlife products globally valued at Rs 121.62 crore between January 1 and May 31 this year.

The SSB also arrested 53 smugglers during this period. The maximum recoveries were made from Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar-all border states. A Wildlife Protection Society of India official, Tito Joseph, said the massive increase in wildlife smuggling was being reported because the SSB on the Nepal and Bhutan borders and the Assam Rifles in India's east were doing a "very good job".

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