Semir on Combating Wildlife Crime

From A CORRESPONDENT

KOKRAJHAR, Sept 22: The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) organized a semir on “Combating Wildlife Crime” on Friday at hall no. 5, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi where Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science and Technology, Earth Science, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Govt. of India, attended the function as chief guest. Sources from the SSB, Tezpur Frontier informed.

 Sources said the purpose of the semir was to sensitize the ‘Central Armed Police Forces’ and other stake holders towards the magnitude of wildlife trade and highlight the necessity for inter-agency co-operation. The semir is likely to help in drafting a definite action plan to be able to favorably address the gravity of exploitation and diminishing forest wealth. The Indo-Nepal and Indo- Bhutan border being porous and open provides an opportunity for illegal smuggling of wildlife products across the borders. The dense forests of Indo-Nepal border is a home to a variety of animals includes about 150 species of mammals, 650 species of birds, 200 species of fish, 69 species of reptiles and 19 species of amphibians. Most of them are endangered species like the snow leopard, musk deer, tiger, Asian elephant, Himalayan blue sheep, Himalayan mol, cheer pheasant, and king cobra etc.

Similarly, the jungle of Indo-Bhutan Border is house of Indian elephants, rhinoceros, gaurs, barasingha Indian tigers, Indian leopards, golden langurs, Assamese macaques, slow lories, and carts in the Mas tiol Park of Assam. After deployment of Sashastra Seema Bal in these borders, smuggling of wild life  and wild life crime have been considerably controlled and numbers of crimils/smugglers have been arrested resulting into conservation and protection of forest resources &wildlife.

The SSB in coordition with Forest Department & other wildlife conservative and protective departments under Central and state governments has seized a number of wildlife animals from the smugglers and rehabilitated many of them.