Indian wildlife under stress from poaching, illegal trade: Govt

New Delhi: The Government today admitted that the country`s wildlife is under stress from poaching and illegal trade in wildlife and their parts.

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar informed Rajya Sabha in a written reply that the data available with his ministry, however, does not reveal any tightly knit cross country poaching network operating in the country. He said that inputs indicate smuggling by human carriers and certain areas on Indian borders are sensitive to such offences. "The data available with the ministry does not reveal any tightly knit cross country poaching network operating in India. However, Indian wildlife is under stress from poaching and illegal trade in wildlife and their parts," Javadekar said. The Minister said that some of the sensitive areas for such smuggling were Dharchula (Uttarakhand), Palla (UP), Sonauli (UP), Bahraich (UP), Raxaul (Bihar), Panitanki (WB), Jaigaon (WB), Moreh (Manipur), Zokhawthar (Mizoram), Ladakh (J&K), Spiti and Kinnaur (Himanchal Pradesh) and Basirhat(WB). Poaching is caused primarily due to three reasons-for consumption and local petty trade, due to human-wildlife conflict and for illegal trade, Javadekar noted, adding, illegal trade in wildlife is demand driven and the demand is mainly from the urban centres and destinations abroad. He said that although no specific data was available with the ministry indicating smuggling of wildlife and products through certain specific border points, "inputs indicate smuggling by human carriers and certain areas on the Indian borders are sensitive to such offences."