683 wildlife crime cases in northern region in 5 years
Aksheev Thakur
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 4
In the five-year period from 2019 to 2023, a total of 683 wildlife crimes were recorded in the northern region states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
Data provided by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), in response to an RTI application filed by The Tribune, showed Uttar Pradesh having the maximum 425 cases. Uttarakhand had 152 cases, Himachal Pradesh 82, Rajasthan 22 and Chandigarh two cases. Punjab didn’t have any case while the figures for Haryana weren’t available.
The data includes cases like poaching, forest fires, encroachments, trespassing into forest areas, smuggling of body parts of animals and collection of non-timber forest products. In 2023, the WCCB also registered a case against a man who was caught at the Mumbai airport with nine ball pythons, an exotic species. The man had arrived from Bangkok.
In Himachal, skin of snow leopards, bear gall bladders, fur of wolves and musk pods of musk deer are the most common illegally trafficked items from the Himalayas. Of the 82 cases in Himachal, eight cases were logged in 2019 and 24, 37, six and seven cases in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively.
Uttar Pradesh saw the maximum 158 cases in 2019, followed by 131 in 2020, 64 in 2021, 53 in 2022 and 19 in 2023. “The figures could be high as state forest departments also register cases. We perform regular cyber-patrolling to detect any post or offers regarding animal body parts or smuggling of animals. Enforcement officers are trained by us regularly so that they can take action,” a senior official from the WCCB said.
Chandigarh recorded one case each in 2021 and 2022. In Uttarakhand, 16, 48, 33, 37 and 18 cases were recorded in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
In the southern states, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have major issues of human-animal conflict. To prevent animals from straying into human habitats or agricultural fields, illegal electric fences are installed, which often result in animal deaths. “In Karnataka, 127 cases were recorded between 2019 and 2023. There have been cases of poaching as well,” said officials.
