Wild Animal Trade The Hottest Trade In The Indian Sub-Continent
Friday - January 6, 2017 12:00 pm ,
Category : WTN SPECIAL
Wild Animal Trade The Hottest Trade In The Indian Sub-Continent
Over the past few years, India has, by setting up the Central and regional Wildlife Crime Control Bureaus and amending the Wildlife Protection Act, declared a war of sorts on the strong and damaging tentacles of wild animal poaching and trade of body parts that have spread around the forests and protected areas of the country. But, the question that comes to mind when all problems and current strategies to combat the overwhelming crime market are taken into consideration is, “Isn’t the war too late?” The hottest forest based trade in the Indian sub-continent does not need a separate market area. It is already a well organized sector fueled by greed and a brisk business strategy aided by a porous border and well connected local and multinational links. 
It is well known where the dried bones and other parts of poached wild animals find their way, China being the biggest buyer of tiger parts for its traditional Chinese medicine. But equally damaging have been the local level killings for meat or to fulfill superstitious beliefs on the curative properties of wild animal parts. Further on, faulty management policies of the past and poor implementation of laws combined with a bigger lack of vision have taken their toll. The network of the poachers with locals and middlemen who quietly but ably coordinate the killing of tigers, panthers, bear, the deer and antelopes and other wild animals, each of which fetches a different price for different body parts has become influential and lethal with time. The effect of this illegal trade has found passage through the corrupted fissures of the Forest department that already faces the challenging limitations of poor intelligence and control. Madhya Pradesh that has been popular as ‘Tiger state’ since decades due to the large population of the wild cats has nearly but lost this tag. The state has lost many wild cats in past decade and stands to lose more if the policy level decisions don’t take local issues into account and continue to fail to deliver on ground. Some of the issues that need to be addressed immediately are, absence of a strong intelligence gathering network mainly in territorial forest divisions, lack of orientation and motivation of territorial staff towards wildlife management, a weak level of knowledge and skills, both of forest officials and veterinary doctors on wildlife health and wildlife management. And, not to forget, the even poorer standards of evidence collection after a crime is discovered, due to which many criminals go scot-free.
It is well known where the dried bones and other parts of poached wild animals find their way, China being the biggest buyer of tiger parts for its traditional Chinese medicine. But equally damaging have been the local level killings for meat or to fulfill superstitious beliefs on the curative properties of wild animal parts. Further on, faulty management policies of the past and poor implementation of laws combined with a bigger lack of vision have taken their toll. The network of the poachers with locals and middlemen who quietly but ably coordinate the killing of tigers, panthers, bear, the deer and antelopes and other wild animals, each of which fetches a different price for different body parts has become influential and lethal with time. The effect of this illegal trade has found passage through the corrupted fissures of the Forest department that already faces the challenging limitations of poor intelligence and control. Madhya Pradesh that has been popular as ‘Tiger state’ since decades due to the large population of the wild cats has nearly but lost this tag. The state has lost many wild cats in past decade and stands to lose more if the policy level decisions don’t take local issues into account and continue to fail to deliver on ground. Some of the issues that need to be addressed immediately are, absence of a strong intelligence gathering network mainly in territorial forest divisions, lack of orientation and motivation of territorial staff towards wildlife management, a weak level of knowledge and skills, both of forest officials and veterinary doctors on wildlife health and wildlife management. And, not to forget, the even poorer standards of evidence collection after a crime is discovered, due to which many criminals go scot-free.
Workshops in wildlife forensics and handling of wildlife cases for forest staff and judiciary are only a portion of the medicine that the disease needs to be suppressed. The real shot lies in a total clamp-down on wildlife crime by moving completely in the field and addressing local issues and resentment head on.-WTN
