Lok Sabha Question No. 1606 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-07-26
Subject: Poaching of Wildlife
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: RAMEN DEKA, SHOBHA KARANDLAJE, KURUPPASSERY VARKEY THOMAS, ARKA KESHARI DEO

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OE ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1606

TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.07.2016

## Poaching of Wildlife

## 1606.  SHRI RAMESH DEKA: KUMARI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE: PROF K.V. THOMAS: SHRI ARKA KESHARI DEO:

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

- (a) whether poaching of wildlife and endangered species like tigers, leopards, on-horned rhinos, exotic birds and reptiles is on the rise in and around the National Parks of the country;
- (b) if so, the details of such incidents reported during the last three years and the current year. Category and National Park-wise;
- (c) whether cases of smuggling of animals and their body parts have also been reported in the country and if so, the details thereof during the said period, State and year-wise;
- (d) the  details  of  the  action  taken  by  the  Government  to  punish  wildlife poachers  and  smugglers  involved  in  trading  of  animals  and  their  body parts and protect the wild animals along with the steps taken for effective implementation  of  laws  and  coordination  amongst  the  various  agencies; and
- (e) whether the Government proposes to launch any awareness campaign with an  aim  to  spread  general  awareness  among  people  about  the  serious poaching problem and the need to protect the endangered animals and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE.

## ( SHRI ANIL MADHAV DAVE)

- (a) and (b) The management and protection in and around National Parks and Sanctuaries in the country is carried out by the concerned State/Union  Territory  Governments.  Reports  of  death  including poaching of endangered wild animals  are received in the Ministry from time to time. However, there is no concrete report indicating an increasing trend in poaching of such wildlife.

- (c) Data pertaining to smuggling of animals and animals parts state-wise is not compiled by this Ministry. However, the number of cases of violation of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 detected at different exit points  during  the  last  3  years  as  reported  by  Regional  Offices  of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) are as follows:

| Year                     |   NR |   ER | SR   |   WR |   Total |
|--------------------------|------|------|------|------|---------|
| 2013-14                  |   11 |   22 | 8    |    8 |      43 |
| 2014-15                  |   23 |    3 | 3    |    7 |      36 |
| 2015-16                  |   12 |    3 | 5    |   11 |      31 |
| 2016-17 (upto 30.6.2016) |    1 |    1 | -    |    4 |      06 |

NR: Northern Region: SR: Southern Region:

ER: Eastern Region: WR: Western Region

- (d) The  important  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  control  poaching and  prevent  illegal  trading  of  animals  and  their  body  parts  and protect the wild animals in the country are as follows:
- i. Legal protection has been provided to  wild animals against hunting and commercial exploitation under the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
- ii. Endangered  species  of  animals  including  Tiger,  Elephants, Lion, Rhino, etc are listed under Schedule -I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 thereby according them highest degree of protection.
- iii. The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, provides for stringent. punishments for wildlife offences. The Act also provides for forfeiture of any equipment, vehicle or weapon that is used for committing wildlife offence(s).
- iv. The  Wildlife  Crime  Control  Bureau  has  been  set  up  to strengthen  the  enforcement  of  law  for  control  of  poaching and illegal trade in wildlife and its products, by coordinating with  the States and  also  with  border  and  trans  border authorities.
- v. 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 and their habitats.

- vi. Financial  and  technical  assistance  is  provided  to  the  State/ Union Territory Governments under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes  of  'Integrated  Development  of  Wildlife  Habitats', 'Project  Tiger'  and  'Project  Elephant'  for  providing  better protection to wildlife and improvement of its habitat.
- vii. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been empowered  under  the  Wild  Life  (Protection)  Act,  1972  to apprehend and prosecute wildlife offenders.
3. (e) The Government through the WCCB regularly conducts sensitization/awareness  programmes  on  wildlife  related  issues  for the Panchayati Raj members and other stake holders in and around the  tiger  reserves.  WCCB  has  conducted  following  programmes in the last three years in various parts of India:

| Year                    |   No. of programmes |   No. of PRI representatives sensitized |
|-------------------------|---------------------|-----------------------------------------|
| 2013-14                 |                  31 |                                    1235 |
| 2014-15                 |                  36 |                                    1596 |
| 2015-16                 |                  44 |                                    2425 |
| 2016 (up to 30.06.2016) |                  03 |                                     143 |

Further  Wildlife  Institute  of  India,  Dehradun  has  also  organized training courses for enhancing awareness about environment, forest and wildlife. A total of 32 training courses (2382 participants) have been organized since 2011-2016.

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