Lok Sabha Question No. 141 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-11-29
Subject: Illegal Trafficking of Endangered Animals
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Gowdar Mallikarjunappa Siddeshwara, Gowdar Mallikarjunappa Siddeshwara

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 141

TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.11.2021

## Illegal Trafficking of Endangered Animals

## 141. SHRI G.M. SIDDESHWAR:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the total number of cases involving illegal trafficking of endangered animals during the last three years;
- (b) the number of endangered animals killed during the last three years;
- (c) the number of people with cases registered against them for the killing or trafficking of endangered animals during the last three years; and;
- (d) the  steps  the  Ministry  is  taking  to  prevent  the  illegal  trafficking  of  endangered animals;

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) , (b) and (c) As  per  the  data  available  with  the  Wildlife  Crime  Control  Bureau provided by the State Forest and Police authorities, the details of wildlife cases  registered  and  number  of  accused  arrested    during  the  last  three

years is as below:

|   S.No |   Year |   No. of cases |   No. of accused arrested |
|--------|--------|----------------|---------------------------|
|      1 |   2018 |            648 |                      1099 |
|      2 |   2019 |            805 |                      1506 |
|      3 |   2020 |            601 |                      1231 |

As  per  information  available  in the Ministry,  the  details of tiger mortalities due to poaching, as reported by States is as given below:

|   S.No |   Year |   Poaching |
|--------|--------|------------|
|      1 |   2018 |         34 |
|      2 |   2019 |         17 |
|      3 |   2020 |          7 |

The  details  of  elephant  deaths  due  to  various  reasons,  as  reported  by State/UT's is as given below:

|   S.No | Year    |   Train accidents |   Electrocution |   Poaching |   Poisoning |
|--------|---------|-------------------|-----------------|------------|-------------|
|      1 | 2018-19 |                19 |              81 |          6 |           9 |
|      2 | 2019-20 |                14 |              76 |          9 |           0 |
|      3 | 2020-21 |                12 |              65 |         14 |           2 |

The details of death/killing of other animals are not collated at the level of Ministry.

- (d) The  important  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  protect  wildlife including  controlling  poaching  and    illegal  wildlife  trafficking  are  as follows:

(i)    The  Wild  Life  (Protection)  Act,  1972  provides  for  punishment  for violation  of  its  provisions.  The  Act  also  provides  for  forfeiture  of  any equipment,  vehicle  or  weapon  that  is  used  for  committing  wildlife offence(s).

(ii)      Wildlife  Crime  Control  Bureau  (WCCB)  has  been  created  for control of wildlife crimes at the Central Government level which work in close coordination with State Forest Departments and other law enforcement agencies.

(iii)      Protected  Areas,  viz.,  National  Parks,  Sanctuaries,  Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves covering important wildlife habitats have been created all over the country under the provisions of the Wild Life  (Protection)  Act,  1972  to  conserve  wild  animals,  birds  and  their habitats.

- (iv)      Financial  assistance  is  provided  to  the  State/Union  Territory Governments  under  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  'Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats', which inter-alia, includes Development of Wildlife Habitats, Project  Tiger  and  Project  Elephant, for providing better protection to wildlife including birds and improvement of habitat.

(v) A specific component of 'Recovery programmes for saving critically endangered species and habitats' is  provided in the on-going Centrally Sponsored  Scheme  of  'Development  of  Wildlife  Habitats'  for  focused conservation action on 22 identified critically endangered species including Humpback whale, Snow leopard, Hangul, Sangai deer, Marine turtle,  Bustards,  Red  Panda,  Nicobar  megapode,  Jerdon's  Courser, Caracal  and  vultures.  Financial  assistance  is  provided  to  States/UT Governments  for  recovery  programme  of  the  critically  endangered species of birds and animals.

(vi)  The law enforcement agencies like Border Security Force, Central Industrial  Security  Force,  etc  who  assist    in  control  of  wildlife  crime have been trained by the WCCB.

(vii) India  is  a  Party  to  Convention  on  International  Trade  in Endangered  Species  of  wild  fauna  and  flora  (CITES),  South  Asian Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) and coordinates with international agencies in control of wildlife crime.

***