Kangaroo sightings put spotlight on India’s unregulated exotic wildlife trade

NEW DELHI: Villagers in West Bengal have since March reported seeing massive animals with massive toes leaping by forests. The locals say they’ve by no means noticed the creatures earlier than.

The sightings drew nationwide consideration when wildlife officers within the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts of the northeastern Indian state final month rescued three of the animals — that turned out to be kangaroos.

“We now have initiated additional investigation for ascertaining the whereabouts of those kangaroos — by whom and the way they have been introduced into the forest together with discovering the trigger behind bringing them,” Belakoba forest vary officer Sanjay Dutta instructed reporters on the time.

Whereas the sightings are being probed, Wasim Akram, government director of Wildlife SOS, a non-governmental group rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife in India, stated it was probably the animals had been smuggled into the nation. The marsupials are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea and have by no means lived in South Asia, apart from zoos.

“We nonetheless don’t have circumstances to be breeding this sort of species in India. The upper probabilities could be of trafficking as a result of that’s how now we have been seeing it taking place prior to now,” he instructed Arab Information.

However it’s unclear if the kangaroos got here from Oceania, as wildlife smuggling networks could span a number of continents.

“Earlier, we used to see quite a lot of circumstances of reptiles being trafficked into India however that will by no means be from the port of exit to the port of entry, there could be a number of entry factors, so it might be very tough to trace the supply of origin,” Akram added.

“It occurs {that a} species could also be native of Africa. They find yourself trafficking it first to a spot like Indonesia, and from there they ship it to India.”

Indian regulation supplies little accountability for individuals who personal unique pets or are concerned of their commerce.

Though the South Asian nation has a few of the world’s most stringent legislations to guard wildlife and habitats, it doesn’t have any guidelines or penalties for buying and selling and proudly owning of non-native species, endangered or not.

“Indian regulation doesn’t have provision for home switch or breeding of unique animals,” Debadityo Sinha from the Vidhi Middle for Authorized Coverage, instructed Arab Information. “There’s a authorized vacuum.”

An amnesty introduced by the Ministry of Setting in 2020 confirmed how frequent such pets have been within the nation, when tens of hundreds of Indians got here ahead to admit possession of species from tortoises and pythons to lemurs and gibbons.

“As of Could 26, 2021, a complete of 43,693 functions for amnesty had been made underneath this advisory,” Sinha stated.

Abhijit Sarkhel, a wildlife activist from New Delhi, stated the sighting of unique species was nothing new, including that kangaroos solely drew consideration as a result of they have been massive and really seen.

“Plenty of individuals maintain smaller mammals as pets and it’s an unregulated space,” he stated. “If an individual can’t deal with the pet and launch them within the forest then it’s the duty of forest departments.”

The shortage of duty for unique pets and their sighting in locations the place they don’t belong is simply the tip of the iceberg of conservation issues. “It’s actually an excessive type of cruelty,” Akram stated, including that non-native species could battle to outlive in a distinct local weather.

One of many kangaroos intercepted by wildlife officers in Bengal final month died from dehydration and malnutrition the day after it was rescued.

“Whenever you introduce a species which isn’t native to that space, it may be a risk to the native species,” Akram added. “You possibly can find yourself introducing a brand new virus, new an infection.”

Regardless of being a signatory to the Conference on Worldwide Commerce in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora settlement since 1976, India continues to be to increase authorized safety to many species listed in its appendices.

However works are in progress as final yr Indian lawmakers started to draft laws to amend the 1972 Wildlife (Safety) Act and shut its loopholes.

“They’re attempting to regularize and regulate this specific area,” Akram stated. “I gained’t be shocked if a proper declaration is made very quickly.”