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| Partners in ending wildlife crime | | |
G. Ananthakrishnan
Britain is looking to strengthen bilateral ties with India to check the menace.
Photo: G. Ananthakrishnan
INHUMAN ACT: These two tiger cubs were just ten days old when they were killed and stuffed. They are among the wildlife trophies and skins seized by London's Metropolitan Police Wildlife Crime Unit headed by Andy Fisher.
THE DEMAND for wildlife and traditional medicines based on animal body parts has been steadily rising in the West, presenting a challenge to enforcement agencies.
During the last decade, the Metropolitan Police Wildlife Crime Unit in London, U.K., has seized nearly 30,000 items worth millions of dollars, ranging from tiger skins, rhinoceros horn, and `shahtoosh' shawls to bear gall bladders, tiger bone wine, tablets with tiger parts, eggs of endangered birds, dried sea horses, and illegal caviar.
Police and Customs units worry that the bulk of the trade in endangered species is facilitated in Asia, a region that also serves as a transit hub for illegal wildlife products from other regions such as Africa. The spurt in trading in such contraband coincides with the spread of globalisation.
Illegal trade in endangered species is worth $5 billion a year, according to Interpol; this makes it second only to illegal trade in drugs in terms of cash value. Stopping this commerce in animals, body parts, and rare plants requires an integrated approach involving Customs, national and local police, and international intelligence.
Andy Fisher, Head of the Wildlife Crime Unit, Metropolitan Police, told this writer during a recent meeting in London that the British Police are pursuing a "charm offensive" that involves identifying and dealing with the law-breakers while endorsing and encouraging law-abiding traders in traditional Chinese medicines, who form the majority. In return for a signed agreement shunning illegal trade, these shopkeepers get an official endorsement and a sticker certifying their bona fides.
"Anti-poaching measures in India cannot succeed if there is a market in London that pays big money for the products," says Mr. Fisher. The Metropolitan Police Unit in the U.K. is therefore working hard on the demand side, in collaboration with other countries including India.
In most cases, the trade involves dead animals rather than live ones. Much of it supplies the traditional Chinese medicines market in the U.K. This is not the result of a large Chinese population living in London, but active patronage from a growing section of Western people, who view it as a trendy alternative. That demand has been on the rise over the last 15 years. From a dozen shops in the London area about 15 years ago, mostly concentrated within the Chinese community, the retail segment has today grown to between 1000 and 2000 shops. "Bear bile is even added to shampoos now," says Mr. Fisher. Bile is extracted from bears that are reared in cages on farms in some countries.
The Wildlife Crime Unit office on Lambeth Road in South West London houses a large collection of items seized by Police. Almost all tiger trophies — and there are many of them — are believed to have come from India. The macabre assortment also contains bottles and packets with potions and tablets made from tiger body parts.
Also on the shelf are two tiger cubs that were killed and stuffed when they were 10 days old, their eyes not yet open when they were slain. They rest on small artificial rocks, positioned by the taxidermist in a playful pose. Besides there are stuffed tiger and leopard heads; massive black and Asian rhinoceros horns (129 of which were seized in South Kensington, the biggest seizure recorded anywhere), turtle shells, elephant and cobra skin purses, and surprisingly soft `shahtoosh' shawls (retail price £1,000 to £15,000 each.) The shawls represent hundreds of slaughtered Tibetan `chiru,' an endangered antelope that is also found in Kashmir's Ladakh region.
Unusual exhibits
The most unusual exhibits are perhaps the skulls of a mountain gorilla and an African leopard, sought after by collectors with weird tastes that extend to shaving brushes made of solid ivory. Smuggling of endangered species also affects plants, such as rare orchids used in traditional Chinese medicine.
The trophies represent many endangered animals that are losing habitat on the one hand, and, on the other, are being hounded by poachers and smugglers to cater to the taste of more and more affluent people around the world. As concern for such endangered wildlife grows, the United Kingdom is stepping up its initiatives to end the killing.
On October 18, the U.K. announced the launch of its National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), a North Berwick-based agency that brings together the Home Office, Customs, police, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). This unit holds particular significance for countries such as India that are endowed with precious biodiversity and numerous animal and bird species.
The NWCU is the new apex agency in Britain gathering intelligence and coordinating all enforcement. It will also deal, through constituent departments, with the illegal trade in wildlife under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES); greater efficiency is to be achieved by sharing intelligence and training police personnel.
As a major tiger-range state that is struggling to contain poaching, India was invited to participate in the formal dedication of the NWCU in Edinburgh. An officer of the Indian Police Service was requested to share India's experience in forming a national wildlife crime agency.
The British wildlife crime enforcement strategy, which deals sternly with trade but not possession of traditionally owned trophies, has two dimensions. The first seeks to raise awareness among buyers of the consequences of their preferences; that includes dispelling the myths spread by dealers that many animal products, such as `shahtoosh' shawls, cause no harm to the `chiru.' The antelope merely moult and shed their wool, the customer is told (when in fact they are slaughtered). The second, under Operation Charm, is to enforce the law. The smuggled items are seized and the traffickers vigorously prosecuted.
One problem that Britain and India have in common is the lower priority accorded by many local policing units to curbing wildlife crime relative to other issues. There is also less than perfect coordination between Customs and Police.
Moreover, local police personnel get inadequate training to recognise protected species and products. Even if they are earnest, they may not have speedy access to chemical analysis, including DNA testing to determine what is illegal and make seizures and arrests. The lack of expertise is compensated in the U.K. to some degree by involving credible NGOs such as the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which has supplied information on endangered species.
Intelligence on seizures abroad and global connections of poachers is obtained often from foreign organisations. In the case of species from the Indian subcontinent, the Wildlife Protection Society of India (which recently exposed the sale of tiger and leopard skins to wealthy citizens in Tibet) has provided vital inputs that led to raids on dealers.
At the CITES international conference in Geneva earlier this month, India told the international community that it was keen on saving the tiger and curbing other aspects of the trade in wildlife. It has a very active partner in the U.K., which wants to strengthen bilateral ties with India to prevent wildlife crime and implement protocols such as the Convention on Migratory Species.
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