Lok Sabha Question No. 2436 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-04
Subject: Wildlife Trafficking
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Dr. D. Purandeswari

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2436

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.08.2025

## Wildlife Trafficking

## 2436.  DR. D. PURANDESWARI:

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

- (a) the details of the number of wildlife crime cases registered and the quantity of seized illegal wildlife articles during the last five years, State and year-wise;
- (b) the  details  of  the  number  of  animals  rescued  and  successfully  rehabilitated  from trafficking operations during the said period, State and year-wise;
- (c) the details of initiatives undertaken by the Government to train forest officials, customs personnel, railway police for prevention of the wildlife trafficking along with the public awareness campaigns and community outreach programmes;
- (d) the  measures  taken/being  taken  to  strengthen  surveillance  and  enforcement  along international borders, especially in the trafficking-prone regions;
- (e) the steps taken by the Government to curb illegal wildlife trade and trafficking across India; and
- (f) whether  the  Government  is  considering  to  expand  Wildlife  Crime  Control  Bureau's (WCCB) capacity  or  establish  regional  wildlife  crime  units  to  increase  ground-level enforcement, particularly in Andhra Pradesh?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

- (a) to (b) Conservation,  management and protection of the wildlife, including prevention of illegal trafficking, is primarily the responsibility of the respective States Governments and Union Territory Administrations. The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972  empowers  States  Governments  and  Union  Territory  Administrations  for making seizures, and registering offence in case of contravention of the provisions of  the  Act.  Details  of  the  wildlife  crime  cases  registered,  as  reported  by  the  State and  Central  law  enforcement  agencies  to  the  Wild  Life  Crime  Control  Bureau (WCCB) are  placed at Annexure-I.
- (c)to (e) The Wild Life Crime Control Bureau(WCCB) collates and shares intelligence with states  and  enforcement  agencies  to  combat  the  organized  wildlife  crime,  and  also issues actionable alerts regarding illegal wildlife trade.The Bureau coordinates with the States  Governments and other authorities for enforcement of the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.The WCCB conducts interagency coordination meetings, joint operations with the law enforcement agencies, undertakes capacity

building  of  the  State  police,  forests  and  Customs  officials. It  also  conducts sensitization programme for the border guarding forces and awareness programmes for the Panchayati Raj institutions.

The  details of the trainings,  awareness  campaigns  and  community  outreach programmes undertaken by the WCCB during last five years are as follows:

| Details of training awareness and outreach programmes     | Years    | Years    | Years    | Years    | Years    |
|-----------------------------------------------------------|----------|----------|----------|----------|----------|
| Details of training awareness and outreach programmes     | 2020- 21 | 2021- 22 | 2022- 23 | 2023- 24 | 2024- 25 |
| a) Training programmes conducted for Government officials | 119      | 208      | 193      | 157      | 129      |
| b) Awareness campaigns and community outreach programmes  | 03       | 28       | 38       | 37       | 22       |

WCCB also collaborates with International agencies like SAWEN, INTERPOL and UNODC to combat the organized wildlife crime.  India is a Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) and has incorporated the provisions of CITES in the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, through an amendment to the act in 2022.

- (f) The Government has established regional and sub-regional offices of the Wild Life Crime Control Bureau to cater to the needs for controlling organized wildlife crime. The  area  of  State  of  Andhra  Pradesh  is  covered  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the southern regional office of the Wild Life Crime Control Bureau.

***

## Annexure-I

## Annexure referred to in reply to parts (a) to (b) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2436 due for reply on 04.08.2025 regarding 'Wildlife Trafficking'

## Details of Wildlife Crime Cases registered in last five years:

|   S.No. | Name of States/UTs   | 2020   | 2021   | 2022   | 2023   | 2024   |
|---------|----------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
|       1 | A& N Islands         | 1      | 1      | 0      | 5      | 36     |
|       2 | Andhra Pradesh       | 29     | 38     | 48     | 21     | 17     |
|       3 | Arunachal Pradesh    | 4      | 4      | 3      | 3      | -      |
|       4 | Assam                | 40     | 41     | 42     | 29     | 26     |
|       5 | Bihar                | 2      | 8      | 4      | 12     | 8      |
|       6 | Chandigarh           | -      | 1      | 1      | -      | -      |
|       7 | Chhattisgarh         | 14     | 6      | 8      | 7      | 1      |
|       8 | Goa                  | 12     | 1      | 12     | 8      | 4      |
|       9 | Gujarat              | 6      | 8      | 9      | 7      | 6      |
|      10 | Haryana              | 99     | 110    | 3      | 5      | 26     |
|      11 | Himachal Pradesh     | 24     | 37     | 6      | 7      | 2      |
|      12 | Jammu &Kashmir       | 18     | 4      | 1      | 5      | -      |
|      13 | Jharkhand            | 2      | 3      | 18     | 12     | 4      |
|      14 | Karnataka            | 25     | 16     | 26     | 14     | 3      |
|      15 | Kerala               | 6      | 6      | 3      | 5      | 1      |
|      16 | Madhya Pradesh       | 30     | 40     | 28     | 33     | 14     |
|      17 | Maharashtra          | 18     | 27     | 14     | 11     | 7      |
|      18 | Manipur              | 1      | -      | 0      | 3      | 1      |
|      19 | Meghalaya            | 28     | 13     | 28     | 1      | 1      |
|      20 | Mizoram              | -      | -      | 0      | 1      | 1      |
|      21 | Nagaland             | -      | 2      | 2      | -      | 1      |
|      22 | Odisha               | 56     | 27     | 32     | 13     | 15     |
|      23 | Rajasthan            | -      | 6      | 3      | 5      | 17     |
|      24 | Sikkim               | -      | -      | -      | -      | -      |
|      25 | Tamil Nadu           | 74     | 26     | 52     | 26     | 22     |
|      26 | Telangana            | 44     | 3      | 4      | -      | -      |
|      27 | Uttar Pradesh        | 131    | 64     | 53     | 19     | 30     |
|      28 | Uttarakhand          | 48     | 33     | 37     | 23     | 13     |
|      29 | West Bengal          | 71     | 81     | 76     | 48     | 73     |
|      30 | Puducherry           | -      | -      | -      | -      | -      |
|      31 | Lakshadweep          | 7      | 16     | 13     | -      | 1      |
|      32 | Delhi                | 7      | 3      | 6      | 12     | 2      |
|      33 | Tripura              | 11     | 3      | 12     | 1      | 3      |
|      34 | Punjab               | 12     | 4      | 2      | 13     | 18     |
|      35 | Daman& Diu           | -      | -      | -      | -      | 1      |
|      36 | Dara &Nagar Haveli   | -      | -      | -      | -      | -      |