4.7 - Animal poaching & Wildlife Conservation

"Animal poaching" is when an animal is killed illegally. It usually occurs when an animal possesses something that is considered valuable (i.e. the animal’s fur or ivory).
     Many countries believe that the rhino horn is an important ingredient for many medicines. This is false. Rhino horn has the same medicinal effect as chewing on your fingernails aka none.
     In 2012, 668 rhinos were poached in South Africa. As of January 2013 it increased to 946, these animals were being poached at a rate of 2 per day. Send them a note to thank them for their work. Sign up for Wildlife Cards.
      At the beginning of the 20th century there were a few million African elephants and approximately 100,000 Asian elephants. Today elephants are now considered endangered, there are about 450,000-700,000 African elephants and 35,000-40,000 Asian elephants.
     Typically the largest adults, with the biggest tusks are poached – putting the matriarchs of elephant herds at the greatest risk.

Wildlife Conservation

·     Global wildlife populations have fallen by 58% since 1970 and if the trend continues then two-thirds of wild animals may go extinct by 2020

What are the objective of conservation?

Parks in India carry two prime objectives:

1.                      protection from exploitation of the target species

2.                      long-term preservation in a natural state.

3.                      Ensure a balance between needs of people residing inside/near parks and need of ecosystem

What are the steps taken by government for conservation?

1.                      The names of protected species of animals, birds and plants have been mentioned at Schedule I of Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

2.                      The Union Government has established a country-wide protected area network for protection of these species and their habitats of threatened flora and fauna under Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

3.                      The network includes 730 Protected Areas including 103 National Parks, 535 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 26 Community Reserves and 66 Conservation Reserves in different bio-geographic regions.

4.                      Legal protection has been provided to wild animals under the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 against hunting and commercial exploitation.

5.                      Special programmes like Project Elephant’ and ‘Project Tiger’ have been launched for conservation of these endangered species and their habitats.

6.                      In Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSC) of ‘Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats’ a specific component of “Recovery programmes for saving critically endangered species and habitats’ is provided for focused conservation action on selected critically endangered species.

7.                      Financial and technical assistance is provided to the State/ UTs under the CSCs for providing better protection to wildlife including endangered species and improvement of its habitat.

8.                      Under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been empowered to apprehend and prosecute wildlife offenders.

9.                      The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has been set up to ensure co-ordination among various officers and State Governments for the enforcement of law for control of poaching and illegal trade in wildlife and its products.

10.               National Biological Diversity Act (NBA), 2002 has been enacted to ensure protection of threatened species and their habitats.

11.               Under the Section 38 of the NBA, 2002 the species which are on the verge of extinction or likely to become extinct in near future as threatened species, are notified.

12.               Botanical Survey of India (BSI) has brought a number of endemic/threatened plants under cultivation (ex-situ conservation) in its and associated botanic gardens