Environmental groups appeal to PM Modi to support global call for wildlife trade ban

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 5

The tragic death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala amid the COVID-19 crisis has given a new dimension to the relationship between man and the wildlife.

“It is time to back some balance,” organisations like World Animal Protection said on World Environment Day, appealing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to support the global call for wildlife trade ban when he will represent the country at the G-20 summit.

The death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala is a sombre reminder that humans are capable of horrific acts of cruelty and violence towards animals.

Meanwhile, the world is reeling under the outbreak of COVID-19, which is believed to have originated in a wildlife market in Wuhan.

“Wild animals are traded for the purpose of our entertainment, for medicine and are treated as products. This cruel trade causes the suffering of millions of animals and endangers the health of people with pandemics like,” said Gajender K Sharma, Country Director World Animal Protection, India.

“We can no longer ignore the fact that rampant trade of wild animals for the benefit of humans resulted in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. And if we don’t act now, this won’t be the last pandemic. Wild animals belong in the wild. That is their natural habitat. We appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been an advocate of animal welfare and wildlife preservation in the past, to support the global ban of wildlife trade at the G-20 summit,” he said

Wildlife activists and environmentalists are demanding protection to thousands of species, who are at the risk of extinction due to human exploitation, ensuring wild animals have a home, preventing invasive species being introduced to new habitats and stopping extensive environmental pollution associated with the industrial farming of wildlife for commercial purposes, such as fur farms.

Forest officials call the incident in Kerala a classic case of ‘man-animal conflict’.

“No one would have fed the firecrackers-filled pineapple to the elephant.  It must have found it lying somewhere. Pineapples and other fruits filled with firecrackers are used as a snare to catch wild boars that destroy crops. It is cruel, wrong and illegal but such incidents do happen at places where wild animals create problems for farmers. The legal way to get rid of wild boars is long and tortuous,” the forest officials said.

Incidentally, traps to snare wild boars/pigs are laid not only in Kerala but also Karnataka.