Wildlife traffickers are blatantly exploiting the shorter travel time and extensive reach that the aviation sector offers!. A new study has revealed that in ten years since 2011, about 70,000 native and exotic animals — in many cases their body parts and derivatives like Red Sandalwoods — were attempted to be smuggled from 18 airports.
Chennai airport was most frequently misused to move illegal wildlife products speedily with significantly fewer transit losses, said the report “High Flying: Insight into wildlife trafficking through India’s airports” which was released recently here by the TRAFFIC, a global organization that monitors the trade of wild animals.
At least 140 wildlife seizure incidents were reported from the airports during the period. However, there is more than meets the eye, indicated Dr Saket Badola and Astha Gautam, authors of the study.
They pointed out that the seizures were just the tip of the iceberg. “The seizures reflect the ongoing trafficking and not an actual representation as most of the illegal wildlife trade goes unchecked and unreported,” said Dr Badola who also heads TRAFFIC India office.
The report noted that all kinds of nefarious tricks were used to smuggle the contrabands. “Checked luggage and personal baggage, concealment of wildlife contraband within passenger clothing, footwear, and other wearable and through the wrong declaration of protected species, all of which makes detection cumbersome for enforcement agencies, were most common tactics,” it said.
What was more concerning was that “many of the seized species are categorised as threatened on the IUCN Red List and listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices.”
“For instance, the Indian Star Tortoise is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. However, traffickers clearly disregard the threatened status and international CITES rules in Appendix I prohibiting its trade as the Indian Star Tortoise was the highest number of native species seized between 2011 and 2020,” said the report.
Among the species groups seized (including both Indian and exotic species), reptiles were the most encountered group during the stated period (46 per cent), followed by mammals (18 per cent), timber (13 per cent), and species from the marine environment (10 per cent). The highest number of native species seized included the Indian Star Tortoise, followed by the Black Pond Turtle Geoclemys hamiltonii while the highest number of non-native species seized was Red-Eared Slider Turtle, followed by the Chinese Pond Turtle Mauremys reevesii, said the 12-page report based on the analysis of the seized wildlife items in the last ten years.
Similarly, several flora species, including Agarwood Aquilaria malaccensis, Red Sanders Pterocarpus santalinus, Sandalwood Santalum album, and medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP) like Kuth Saussurea costus roots were seized at the airports.
Chennai International Airport recorded the highest number of wildlife seizure incidents, followed by Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, and Indira Gandhi Airport, New Delhi.”Illegal wildlife trade through airports is a major conservation threat magnified by the growth in the airline sector. It is important for enforcement agencies to prioritize bringing an end to wildlife trafficking,” said Dr Badola.
Taking a serious view of the growing crime, TRAFFIC India recently developed new awareness and capacity-building tools to combat the wildlife trade through the aviation sector.
“We have partnered with TRAFFIC, WWF-India, Customs, CISF, and Wildlife Crime Control Board (WCCB) under the Union Environment Ministry to design and implement a dedicated programme that will help strengthen the detection of illegal wildlife trade at airports,” said Atul Bagai, Head of the United Nations Environment Programme Country Office in India.
Tilotama Varma, Additional Director, WCCB maintained that airports have emerged as a popular mode for transporting wildlife contrabands due to the shorter travel time and extensive reach. Traffickers are using various modes all of which make detection difficult.
Echoing a similar concern, Yogendra Garg, Additional Director General, NACIN said, “Customs need to continuously acquire new skills to keep pace with the latest trends in smuggling. Training tools and resources are thus crucial for upscaling their skills to detect crime. Also, there is a dire need to create awareness about emerging issues like wildlife crime from time to time.”
Ravi Singh, Secretary-General and CEO, WWF-India warned that wildlife and forest crime is a serious and growing problem. “Wildlife needs our support more than ever due to the ever-increasing threats due to human interventions, climate change, and illegal wildlife trade. The new project engages with nodal agencies at airports and helps to increase the awareness and prevention of illegal wildlife trade,” said Ravi Singh.
