A flourishing illegal trade
By Saikat Neogi

THE shot rang through the woods scaring all birds in the vicinity. Animals scurried in different directions — all except one deer of a rare species which lay motionless in the clearing. Nobody had warned it that when it grew up, its hide would be used to decorate homes of the wealthy and its flesh would land up at the dining table.

Much before Salman Khan allegedly picked up the gun to shoot cheetals in Rajasthan, and before the reported hunting of endangered species for a dinner attended by Andhra Pradesh bigwigs, wildlife trading has been a flourishing illegal business in India. After narcotics and underground arms running, poaching in India has become the third most lucrative business proposition.

Hunters frequent densely populated Indian forests and gun down endangered species whose skin, bones, tusks and sometimes even gums fetch megabucks in the international market.

It has been estimated that trade in wildlife and its derivatives brings in more than $ 20 billion annually. India is the transit point as well as a source for wildlife trading. Because of the country’s lax laws and sometimes customs officials’ ignorance of the finished products, these traders usually go scot-free.

On its part, the Indian Government has banned hunting and trading in animal body parts, but there continues to be rampant poaching by traders. It has also become a macabre sport for the wealthy. Armed with sophisticated ammunition, flashlights and powerful binoculars, they make killing look so easy.

This trade has of late become a serious threat to the global biodiversity and the food chain, apart from endangering the rare animal species, specially in India.

Tigers, an endangered species worldwise, are poached for their hide and bones; rhinos for their horns; elephants for their ivory tusks; deer for their musks; and butterflies and corals for their appealing forms. In fact, no animal is safe from the smoking guns of the poachers.

That’s because one kill could translate into a fortune for game hunters, as hides, skins and bones are sold at exorbitant prices in the international market. Since wildlife is found in big numbers in India, it makes the country a focal point of the trade.

Abrar Ahmed of TRAFFIC India, the wildlife trade monitoring division of the World Wildlife Fund, says: "The biggest problem is the lack of awareness among forest officials and the customs staff about the traded product and its uses." The department identifies species which are vulnerable to poaching and facilitates the control of trading of the same. As a step to educate enforcement officials and personnel, TRAFFIC India has published a booklet providing an overview of the wildlife trade in India.

Rampant poaching of tigers as well as other species facing extinction like the sambar, cheetal and wild boar, is one of the most serious problems that our country is facing today. Despite the ambitious ‘Project Tiger’, the number of tigers has been declining in India at an alarming rate. The hide of a tiger is used as a prized foot-rest for the rich. The claws are used as talismans, while tiger fat, bones and skulls are used in balms and potions for their supposed aphrodisiac powers. Japan is fast emerging as the new market for products made of tiger bone. Data released by the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency says that products made from tigers are being sold in traditional pharmacies and ‘virility product shops’ in Tokyo and Yokohama. A chain of these shops has a catalogue which even offers private parts of a tiger in powdered form.

"There’s a market for every kind of species, especially the ones on the verge of getting extinct like tigers, leopards and rhinos, in India and abroad. Finding a buyer is never a problem", says an illegal wildlife trader in Delhi.

Trade in fur has been flourishing between India and Nepal. Till a few years ago, fur items were openly displayed in the Kathmandu markets and bought mainly by Europeans. Fur is covered into products like pelts, coats, jackets, hats, gloves and short and long coats. Small items like wallets, belts and walking sticks are also made out of fur.

Fur and skin of wild cat is another product which is in great demand in the international market. There are at least 20 such species, whose skins are sold for millions of dollars and of these, 18 are facing extinction.

The Asian rhino horn is used for treating paralysis, high blood pressure, body pain, renal disorders, jaundice and pulmonary disorders in China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, while the African rhino horn is used for making various crude hunting weapons in countries like Yeman and Oman.

Another trade product which brings in high revenue is ivory from elephant tusks. The only elephants in the world that have tusks are of Asian origin, and that too only the male elephants have tusks. The tusks weigh approximately 9.5 kg.

Ivory, which costs approximately Rs 5,000 per kg in India is used in various ways. Large chunks of ivory are used to support glass tables by those who have that kind of money to burn. Ivory is also used to make bangles, bracelets, statues, chessboards and other delicate adornments. Powdered ivory is often used for medicinal purposes.

Even dead butterflies are often exported to Germany, Japan, Switzerland, England and the USA for research activities. The Indian shahtoosh shawls have always been a favourite with the Europeans. The fur comes from the endangered species, chiru, found in the Himalayan region. The shawls made of shahtoosh are so smooth and well woven that they can even pass through a ring.

Even though the international trade of turtles and tortoises is banned, there are reports of smuggling of turtles from India to Bangladesh for meat and to the Middle East for pet trade. Out of the 26 species of freshwater turtles in India, 22 are hunted for its various uses.

Antlers or horns of deer, cheetal, sambar, barking deer and swamp deer are also in great demand in this nefarious trade. Antlers shed by the deer every year, unlike horns, are hollow, unbranched and permanent. So hunters gun down the docile deer, chop off their antlers which find ready markets in Australia, East Asia and the USA where they are used in making cutlery, handles, pistol butts, buttons and some oriental medicines.

For years there has been talk of a major crackdown against wildlife crimes. For this purpose, the Ministry of Environment and Forest is setting up an inter-ministerial group which would coordinate with enforcement agencies in curbing illegal trade. The ministry has also initiated a proposal for raising a separate armed force to deal with wildlife crimes since experts have often pointed out that state forest departments are not well equipped to deal with such crimes.

But so far many such virtuous proposals have been floated only to gather dust in government files even as wildlife enthusiasts and environmentalists cry themselves hoarse.

Will these proposals see light of day or will they be ignored by our law makers like the last deadly shot of the dreaded hunter? Only time will tell. — Newsmen Features