From her years of infield knowledge, Ms. Gandhi has found out that the poachers actually have unlimited supply of ammunitions and vehicles. What is more they have contacts within the system with people who are supposed to be the protectors of the wildlife and it is these who help them whenever crisis arises. According to her, the local politicians, police and forest officials although bestowed with strong powers, either choose to remain aloof or are too scared to act against the criminals.

The environmentalist names many tribal groups across India who have made poaching a business. This includes,

• The Bawarias who move as a family and are organised big cat hunters who operate in and around wildlife sanctuaries,
• Tthe nomadic Pardhiis,
• The Narikauravas of South India who steal squirrels and domestic cats as well,
• The Kela tribes of Orissa who poach monitor lizards and sell their skins to the music industry

 These tribes operate like any other organised sector. While the men are in the forest hunting, the women open up a shack near the sanctuaries selling trinkets and jewellery. After dusk, they venture into the forest with the children and help the men skin the animal and separate the parts through the night. At dawn they are already packed and prepared to board the train and export the loot to countries like China. Leopards, elephants bears, they all fetch high prices for these criminals.

Wildlife crime is as big an offense as stealing jewellery or murdering a human being. The value of life cannot be deemed lesser just because it belongs to an animal. If justice is equal for all, it should be given to all no matter what the species. The crime of poaching has to stop.

Image Credit stevendepolo via cc/FLickr 

Fishermen in Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh have found a new way of making money – through shark fins. The rising demand of shark fins in south Asian countries has led to the increase in shark hunting in the eastern coasts of the country.

Shark fin soup is a delicacy in countries like Singapore, China, Malaysia and Hong Kong and to meet the demand, sharks are being hunted in plenty by fisherman who directly export the fishes.

“The fishermen population mainly depends upon shark fishing nowadays because of the high value of sharks. The shark fins are dried and exported to other Asian countries,” said D.E.Babu, Professor, Zoology Department of Andhra University.

The fishermen however are not ready to take the direct allegations. According to them, the shark hunting is not intentional but they are caught in the nets while fishing for other fishes.

It is nevertheless believed that traders make deals in thousands at the shores with the fisherman.

Shark fishing was banned under the Wildlife Act and the Marine Fishing Act of 1986.

Image Credit
Photo by StormyDog via cc/flickr

It was in 1967 when Cheetah was last spotted in India. But now wildlife lovers can cheer as the animal is all set to make an entry again into the wild grasslands of the country where it will be re-introduced.
The move is being planned in order to save the grasslands and many other endangered species here.

The Wildlife Trust of India and the Wildlife Institute of India proposed in a report presented to the Ministry of Environment and Forest the reintroduction of cheetahs in India. They have identified three sites, Kuno-Palpur and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh and Shahgarh Landscape in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan where the animal can be brought and intitially it is being planned to import 18 cheetahs to the country.

The cheetahs will be brought from Middle East, where North African Cheetah are bred, Iran, Namibia and South Africa and the initial cost required for the re-introduction in each site would be almost ` 100 Crore in the next 2 to 3 years but it will be totally funded by the centre government.

Applauding the move Minister of State Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh said, “It is important to bring cheetah back to our country. This is perhaps the only mammal whose name has been derived from Sanskrit language. It comes from the word chitraku which means spots. The way tiger restores forest ecosystem, snow leopard restores mountain ecosystem, Gangetic dolphin restores waters in the rivers, the cheetah will restore grasslands of the country.”

It is believed that with the re-introduction of the Cheetah, the dire conditions of the grasslands will come into limelight thereby reviving the efforts needed to preserve the ecosystem and the endangered species like the carcal (Caracal caracal), the India wolf Canis lupus pallipes) and the three endangered species of the bustard family – the Houbara (Chlamydotis undulate macqueenii), the lesser florican (Sypheotides indica) and the most endangered of them all – the great Indian bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps).

This will also help benefit pastoralism in India where the largest livestock population in the world resides.
 
Image credit
Cliff1066 via cc/Flickr

S B Vyavahare, assistant director, Mumbai General Post Office (GPO) said.
“It has been found that sparrows, which were once a common sight, are now
rapidly disappearing not only in India, but across the world. This is our small
effort to help save the species,’’ he added.

‘While there’s still work to be done in the coming weeks, this has been
a crucial meeting ahead of the Tiger Summit,’ said Michael Baltzer, leader of
WWF’s Tiger Programme. ‘These countries have worked together to lay down solid
plans to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022 – a critical goal to
save this endangered animal. ‘

Says the research scientist,“There have been very few studies done on a large
herbivore such as the gaur. The largest population of gaur is found in India,
but its number is declining due to various reasons. A comprehensive study on
them will help understand the species, and with knowledge we can intervene and
protect them from extinction.”

Image Credit
Photo by wwarby via cc/Flickr

The report says that there is a direct link between extinction of plant and animal species and the economic growth. As the human population increases manifolds and people consume more, death threats are being faced by animals and plants.

“It’s a problem if we continue this unsustainable pattern of production and consumption,” said Ahmed Djoghlaf, the UN’s leading figure on biological diversity. “If the 9 billion people predicted to be with us by 2050 were to have the same lifestyle as Americans, we would need five planets.”
“The magnitude of the damage [to ecosystems] is much bigger than previously thought,” said Djoghlaf. “The rate of extinction is currently running at 1,000 times the natural historical background rate of extinction.”

What humans are not realising is also the fact that it is ultimately their own doom story they are writing down by clearly neglecting the fate of other living species. The threat is not just to few animals but to entire populations of marine life forms, terrestrial life forms and even areal species with new technology making humans conquer the skies like never before.

With the crusade to become as developed as USA, India is losing much of its rich biodiversity. Man-made malls are more in number now that nature made animals.

The global population is set to rise from 6.8 billion to 9 billion by 2050. With lack of space, it will again be the animals and plants that will have to leave the earth permanently to provide shelter to this uncontrollable mass of humans.

India can still fight back, by stricter population norms, stricter energy laws and more regulations and conservation measures for the plant and animal kingdom.