NEW DELHI: The Union government has issued a notification to provide the legal framework for breeding exotic wild animals in captivity.
The framework will make it mandatory for exotic wild animal keepers to get a license to breed exotic animals in captivity.
India lacks a regulation to keep a check on a person who owns highly endangered exotic wild animals and is engaged in breeding them. Now onward, people need a separate license to keep exotic wild animals of Appendix I of Schedule IV, which are highly protected animals across the world.
The issue came to limelight across the globe when the pandemic broke out when it was assumed that Covid-19 was a ‘zoonotic disease’ which got spillover from China’s Wuhan wet market. Since then, several countries recognized the illegal wildlife trade, which could pose a serious risk to the human population. For instance, China banned illegal trade and consumption of wild animals; Vietnam temporarily banned imports of wildlife and wildlife products. Bolivia passed a resolution of prohibition on using wild animals for food and medicines.
However, India issued an advisory on June 11, 2020 granting amnesty to individuals possessing exotic live species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).
“The amnesty was granted to encourage individuals to disclose their possession of exotic animals to create a database of CITES-listed animals in India so that government would monitor births, deaths, trade, or change of possession of the animals in the future,” says Debadityo Sinha, a wildlife laws expert.
CITES is a multilateral treaty entered into by 183 countries to ensure that the global trade in wildlife does not threaten species' survival. It does so by regulating global trade in wild flora and fauna, and India ratified CITES in 1976.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified the Rules under Section 49 N vide Gazette Notification dated April 24, 2023.
Meanwhile, wildlife experts hail the decision of the government to provide the legal framework which the country needed.
“This legal framework is like something better than nothing,” says wildlife crime investigator Jose Louise. “This framework will prevent highly endangered exotic and protective animals in captivity and use it for an opportunity to trade it further.”
The notification states that the new amendment will provide the legal framework for the protection of various species of wild animals, the management of their habitat and also for the regulation and control of trade in the products derived from various parts of wild animals.