Pawan Sharma, Wildlife Warden for Thane, said one of the many ways to tackle this illegal pet trade will be to reduce its demand.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) along with the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has rescued 816 tortoises since September through two joint operations in and around Mumbai. The accused have been nabbed and will be punished eventually too. But the alarming figure points at a very flourishing trade that has been thriving despite the regular raids. This give rise to the question: Is this enough?
Pawan Sharma, Wildlife Warden for Thane, said one of the many ways to tackle this illegal pet trade will be to reduce its demand. "A lot of buyers who purchase star tortoises do not even know that buying it is illegal. Therefore, a lot of awareness needs to be created around it, especially among people aged below 30, who constitute the bulk of the customers," he said, adding that enforcement needs to be strengthened also.
M Maranko, Regional Deputy Director, WCCB, Western Regional office, said that several raids and arrests have helped them understand the entire network. "Many people we have arrested and nabbed hailed from Balegowdanahalle village of Karnataka and interrogation has also revealed that several men from the village enter the forest and collect star tortoises. Once the number is substantial, those are packed and sent to various cities, including Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, and other places where the demand is high," he said.
He added, that the tiny tortoises also exchange several hands during the entire journey from their natural habitat to the homes of people who buy them as pets for anywhere between Rupees 200 to 1,000 each.
Throwing light on the manner in which the consignments of tortoises are brought to the cities, Maranko said that specific salesmen travel all over cities like Mumbai and Pune and while taking orders for selling things like plastic flowers or other items, they whet out prospective buyers. Once a deal is fixed, "courier boys" carrying the consignments in shoulder bags or luggage bring it through different modes of transport and sell it.
"Since there are lot of checks at airports, railways were the most preferred mode. However, as raids and seizures at railways stations increased, they shifted to using buses and other modes of transport," said Maranko.
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