100 Tigers, 1000 Rhinos, 20,000 Elephants are lost to this trade every year.
Exotic animals are wild in nature. They are called exotic due to their unique physical and emotional needs. Their uniqueness has the sky touching price in the international markets. The exotic pet trade is second only to the drug trade in terms of illegal activity and dollars generated[1]. The very common reasons for buying or selling exotic animals are to make huge profits, used as a status symbol etc.
A brief history on regulating international wildlife trade
The first international treaty on nature conservation for regulating the wildlife trade began in 1900, with keeping the primary aim on African species, but the treaty never came into force.
After thirty-three years, the “Convention Relative to the Preservation of Fauna and Flora in their Natural State” was adopted and came into force in 1936. Known as the “London Convention.” Again the main focus was to protect the African species by banning the hunting, killing, and also by regulating the internal and international trade.
In 1973 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was administered through the United Nations (UN).
CITES
CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. It aims to ensure international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. CITES has a very limited scope, it only regulates international trade i.e., legal and illegal, it does not cover the aspect of domestic trade. Though CITES can issue a temporary suspension of trade to reduce the illegal trades. there are increasing calls to develop a new convention to address illegal wildlife trade. Advocates note there are many non-CITES listed species that are illegally traded. They also say CITES is already too stretched, and “a comprehensive legally binding regime for tackling wildlife crime, within the framework of international criminal law rather than trade law, is beyond the scope of CITES”.
There are numbers of illegal trading cases which are not disclosed. countless other species are similarly over exploited, from marine turtles to timber trees. Not all wildlife trade is illegal. Wild plants and animals from tens of thousands of species are caught or harvested from the wild and then sold legitimately as food, pets, ornamental plants, leather, tourist ornaments and medicine. Wildlife trade escalates into a crisis when an increasing proportion is illegal and unsustainable—directly threatening the survival of many species in the wild. The never-ending demand mainly from Asia, for rare horns, ivory, skin, shark fins is leading to the decline in the wildlife populations.
A Spotlight on Smuggling Wildlife of India
In India, the trade is expanding rapidly, especially during lockdowns. The main consumer markets China and South East Asia, but the smuggling also takes place in Gulf, Europe and Northern America. Not only India, the neighbouring countries Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar are also involved in illegal trading. In February 2019, the custom officials at Chennai International Airport heard a squeaking sound from a passenger’s luggage who arrived from Bangkok. There was a tiny leopard cub in his bag. There are lots of cases occurring at Chennai Airport. The custom department have been seizing star tortoises, sea cucumbers and pangolin scales being smuggled out of the country for years. Officials now say exotic species being smuggled in are on the rise. But where the exotic wildlife being smuggled into India is going is anybody’s guess.
Recent seizures at Chennai Airport
- 25 March 2019: African horned pit viper seized along with 2 rhinoceros iguanas, 3 rock iguanas, 22 Egyptian tortoises, 4 blue-tongued skinks and 3 green tree frogs
- 13 March 2019: 18kg of peacock feathers meant to be smuggled to Malaysia and Singapore
- 2 February 2019: Leopard cub seized from a man who arrived from Bangkok
- 21 January 2019: 14kg of shark fins seized from a man travelling to Singapore
- 20 December 2018: 4,800 red-eared slider turtles seized from two passengers who arrived from Bangkok
- 12 October 2018: 2,300 red-eared slider turtles seized from a passenger who arrived from Bangkok
- 6 April 2018: 65 star tortoises seized from a passenger bound for Bangkok
India has a legal framework to regulate and restrict the wildlife trade. Trade in almost 1800 species of wild animals, plants is prohibited under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The Constitution of India does provides certain provisions for Wildlife Act. Article 48A of the Constitution of India directs the State to protect and improve the environment and safeguard wildlife and forests. This article was added to the Constitution by the 42nd Amendment in 1976. Article 51A imposes certain fundamental duties for the people of India. One of them is to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures.
Salient Features of Wildlife Protection Act:
1. It helped India become a party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
2. The Act prohibits the hunting of endangered species.
3. The Act provides for licenses for the sale, transfer, and possession of some wildlife species.
4. The Act created six schedules which gave varying degrees of protection to classes of flora and fauna.
5. Schedule I and Schedule II (Part II) get absolute protection, and offences under these schedules attract the maximum penalties.
The problem is not in the laws, the problem arises due to the poor communication of laws, poor implementation and enforcement. There is a lack of political backing for this serious crime, without political backing the penalties for the illegal trade are often too weak.
In 2019, the environment ministry informed parliament that a total of 1,256 cases of illegal trading of wildlife and poaching of endangered animals were recorded between 2017 and 2019, and 2,313 offenders arrested. There is no efficient funding for wildlife conservation, referring to the above data government needs to pay attention and needs to make the laws stricter, the lenient laws also tend to increase the illegal activities. Killing the overpopulated section of animals in order to maintain natural balance is the most common justification, it should not be excused.
For the first time, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) described wildlife trafficking as a “global threat. The illegal trade is estimated to generate revenues of up to dollar 23 billion a year. Sadly, the species are available for trade on online market sites in India.
The illegal wildlife trade has doubled in India during the covid pandemic. When the entire nation was stopped, all the state borders were sealed during the lockdown, the illegal trading of exotic animals rose rapidly. There was an increase in the number of cases of poaching of ungulates and small mammals. Even cobra, sea cucumber, flying squirrels were poached, consumed and traded, according to a study done by the non-profit TRAFFIC during the pandemic. The economic slowdown and increasing unemployment led to the hunt for food and income. This had put immense pressure on the traffickers.
India needs to frame laws to control the smuggling on the domestic and international borders itself. A reforming move that has come in this direction is the advisory from the Union environment ministry to streamline the import and possession of exotic animals in India in June. It’s directed at people who own these species to voluntarily disclose they own them. A systematic allotting of funds, strict laws, filling up vacancies of forest staff positions and spreading the awareness would help a long way.
References:
1. https://spca.bc.ca/ways-to-help/take-action/exotic-pets/
2. https://web.archive.org/web/20120427225136/http://iea.uoregon.edu/pages/view_treaty.php?t=1933-PreservationFaunaFloraNaturalState.EN.txt&par=view_treaty_html
3. Cites.org
4. https://www.iisd.org/articles/evolving-war-illegal-wildlife-trade
5. https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/spotlight-indias-soaring-wildlife-crime
6. https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/spotlight-indias-soaring-wildlife-crime
7. https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/spotlight-indias-soaring-wildlife-crime
8. Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
9. https://www.oneindia.com/india/1-256-cases-of-illegal-trading-poaching-of-wildlife-recorded-from-2017-to-2019-govt-3151471.html
10.The Hindu
11.https://lifestyle.livemint.com/smart-living/environment/-illegal-wildlife-trade-hasn-t-slowed-even-after-covid-19-outbreak-111601278158054.html
12.https://lifestyle.livemint.com/smart-living/environment/-illegal-wildlife-trade-hasn-t-slowed-even-after-covid-19-outbreak-111601278158054.html
About the author –
This article is authored by Riddhi Kapadni, FY LLB student at MIT WPU Faculty of Law, Pune
