A large number of Indian zoos are reported to be involved in the illegal trade of wildlife animals and their body parts. Animals missing from zoos include the African lion, spotted deer, langur, falcons and several rare varieties of birds whose cost runs into millions of dollars.
This illegal animal trade includes trafficking of live animals, body parts of animals which include tiger parts, rhinoceros horn, shark fin, exotic birds and reptile skin. Smuggling of wildlife products is valued second only to the illegal weapons trade.
Animal traffickers are also turning to zoos to boost the exotic animal trade with the Internet proving a boon for the poaching community.
A survey by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) found 146 live primates, 5,527 elephant products, 526 turtle and tortise shells, 2,630 reptile products and 239 wild cat products up for sale on the Web.
Conservationists point to the “disappearance” of a bear from the precints of Delhi zoo which corners most of the `18.5-crore budgetary allocation for the Central Zoological Authority (CZA). From this Delhi gets `5.65 crores annually.
Eight rare marmosets have gone missing from the Alipur zoo and Indian Great Horned Owl went missing three months ago from Chhatbir zoo in Chandigarh.
The recent killing of a young tigress in the high-security Itanagar zoo by poachers who hacked the tigress to death and escaped with its body parts, is reminiscent of the death of another tigress at the Nehru zoo in Hyderabad where paochers escaped with the skin while the carcass was found floating in the water tank.
The state of the Indian zoos can be gauged from the fact that the CZA has issued an ultimatum to the Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth which manages the Maharajbagh Zoo asking them to improve its facilities failing which it would suspend its recognition.
Already, the CZA has sharply whittled down the recogniton of India’s zoos from 347 to 164.
Out of these 92 have been shut down and the animals have been relocated while the others which have been derecognised are “under review”.
Forest commissioner, foods and wildlife, R.C. Nayyar, had pulled up the forest officials “for the deplorable conditions” prevailing in the tiger safari zone of the Ludhiana zoo only a fortnight ago. Lax security conditions are highlighted by the recent arrest of an armed poacher who was nabbed outside the rhinocerous enclosure in the Guwahati zoo this year.
A member of the CZA pointed out, “The tiger is considered the most prestigous animal for India and yet within zoos they are under threat.” He was alluding to the death of 13 tigers in a zoo in Orissa. Illicit wildlife trade has spread its tentacles across southeast Asia with India providing a key source to animals and animal parts, sources in CZA pointed out.