Column: Change of Strategy Must To Tackle This Menace

By Ashutosh Mishra

Bhubaneswar: Forest officials recently arrested a man selling horseshoe crabs, an endangered marine species in Mayurbhanj district. A native of West Bengal he was caught with six live specimens of the species whose popular name is a misnomer in that they are not true crabs which are crustaceans. But these blue blooded marine and brackish water arthropods, also known as living fossils as they have existed unchanged for millions of years, are highly valued for their use in medical applications.

This case is yet another example of rampant poaching and smuggling of marine and wildlife species in the state. Ignorance of law plays a part in this but in most cases criminals are fully aware of the legal implications of what they are doing. They still consider it worth taking the risk as big money is involved.

While marine turtles like Olive Ridleys are facing a threat from fishing trawlers in Odisha fresh water turtles are being poached and smuggled in large numbers. Police and railway authorities have seized nearly 3000 fresh water turtles in the last two years but the illegal trade continues to thrive.

However, no wildlife species in the state faces a bigger threat than pangolin, a shy, harmless mammal prized for its scales which have a variety of uses. Pangolin smuggling is rampant around the world but the illegal trade is currently in focus in our state because of the novel methods being adopted by the racketeers to strike deals with customers. The trade has gone high tech in Odisha with social media platforms like Whatsapp being used frequently by the smugglers.

Online trade link of pangolin smuggling came to light recently with forest authorities busting an inter-state gang that approached customers using social media platforms. It used a variety of codes to identify products and finalize deals that made it hard to trace their activities. The gang which uploaded videos of the captured animals used currency notes as a code to indicate the weight of the animal.

While threat perception to wildlife keeps growing state authorities appear ill-equipped to deal with the crisis. State Wildlife Crime Cell has neither been very active nor does it possess the necessary expertise to deal with such cases. It also lacks an effective intelligence network which is extremely important for detecting wildlife crimes. Equally important is the fact that poachers and smugglers are able to exploit legal loopholes and obtain bail rather easily in most of the cases. Notable convictions have been few and far between.

The department, it would appear, needs to change its strategy to deal with wildlife crimes in a more effective manner. While it needs to invest more in technology and human resource to acquire the required expertise it should also work towards strengthening the legal framework to tackle the growing menace of poaching and smuggling of endangered animals. Considering its present limitations the department also needs to involve the voluntary sector in its drive against such crimes, a significant aspect of which would be awareness generation. The sooner it happens the better.

(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are the author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same)