Trending Now
- 830 voters names go missing in Kavundampalayam constituency
- If BJP comes to power we shall consider bringing back electoral bonds: Nirmala Sitaraman
- Monitoring at check posts between Kerala and TN intensified as bird flu gets virulent in Kerala
Coimbatore
Joining hands to combat wildlife crime
February 4, 2016
Pointing out that India, like the rest of the world, was fast losing out on some of its iconic species due to illegal trade in wildlife, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Admin), Government of Tamil Nadu N. Krishnakumar, today said that wildlife crime had progressively become an organised activity.
Speaking at a three-day National Level Workshop, claimed to be the first of its kind in India, on “Capacity building for effective wildlife law enforcement”, Krishnakumar said that as the world grew in wealth, demand for species like tiger, elephant, leopard, pangolin or rhino for their parts and derivatives had increased.
Additional Director of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, New Delhi, Tilottama Varma, said that the Bureau was a nodal agency for fighting wildlife crime in India. However, it was important for it to secure cooperation and participation of other enforcement agencies, such as Police, Railway Protection Force, Customs, Border Security Force and others, she said.
Shekhar Kumar Niraj, Head of TRAFFIC India, joint organisers of the event, said the workshop was a kind where officers from various law enforcement agencies had come together to undergo intense skill development for combating wildlife crime, as well as to discuss and develop national level strategy and protocols for combating wildlife crime.
The workshop was to discuss and share ideas related to identification of specimens in trade and strategies in combating crime, application of forensics and DNA techniques in wild life crime investigations.
The workshop is being organised by TRAFFIC, a global wildlife trade monitoring network, in partnership with the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, Tamil Nadu Forest Academy, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), and WWF-India.
Around 100 participants from 18 States, representing the Departments of Forest, Police and Intelligence, and seven central agencies, representing the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Indo-Tibetan Border Forces, Border Security Forces, Customs, and Railway Protection Force, besides others, are attending the event.
