New Rescue Centres for Seized Wildlife in Northeast States

India’s northeasten states are building new homes for seized exotic animals and rescued native wildlife. The states have been coping with the pressures of housing and proper upkeep of these animals.

Consignments of exotic wildlife, smuggled in from the international borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh, are routinely seized by state forest departments, border guarding agencies and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB). These seized animals are taken to small and mini zoos to provide them shelter. This is, however, increasingly getting difficult with lack of space and resources. The zoos are also coping with the pressures of treating injured, rescued and orphaned native wildlife.

Last November, in a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Central Zoo Authority (CZA), the senior forest officials of all North East States had expressed the challenges in housing exotic and native wildlife, which arrive in their zoos. Some zoos, such as the mini zoo in Lady Hydari Park in Shillong, Meghalaya, had to turn away seized exotic wildlife on multiple occasions, as they had no space to house them, according to Meghalaya forest department officials. Following this meeting, it was decided that new rescue centres should be built to address this challenge.

In mid-April this year, the CZA’s technical committee recommended approval for new rescue centres in Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya while in Sikkim, it recommended the approval for upgrading an existing rescue centre. As per the proposals and layouts, these new rescue centres will have separate enclosures for exotic animals, specialised quarantine cells and bigger vet facilities among other facilities.

“Our purpose is to have proper housing, enclosures for such animals,” said Sanjay Kumar Shukla, Member Secretary, Central Zoo Authority. Shukla added that the CZA will provide financial assistance to the states for veterinary care, long term care, housekeeping and recurring cost of feeding wildlife. The CZA, he said, is also exploring if funds from the compensatory afforestation pool could be used, since rescue centres qualify to get funds from this resource.

There are nearly 40 species of seized exotic species currently in various Indian zoos, as per a conservative estimate shared by CZA. These include animals such as iguanas, meerkat, a variety of gibbons and other reptiles.

What do the states’ forest departments say?

Though all North East states are facing the challenge of housing seized exotic wildlife and rescued native wildlife to varying degrees, the problem is acute in Mizoram, Assam and Tripura. Then, there are states such as Meghalaya, where the existing zoos are too small in size and are not able to even accept rescued exotic wildlife.

Mizoram is the worst affected of all, owing to the regular seizures of exotic wildlife made in Champhai district close to Myanmar border. This district has come up as a hotspot for smuggling of wild animals, Mongabay India reported last year. As per its proposal to the CZA, 582 wild animals from 25 species were seized just between February 2021 and September 2022 in Champhai district alone. These included reptiles, birds, monkeys and rodents whose native habitats are in central Africa and South America.

“Our small zoo in Aizawl cannot house the volume of seized animals and thus, it has become a necessity to build a rescue centre. We also need training and capacity building for the scientific upkeep of such animals,” said Laltlanhlua Zathang, Chief Wildlife Warden, Mizoram Forest Department.

Meanwhile, Shillong’s Lady Hydari Park which has a mini zoo has to turn away seized animals as they only have space to keep their zoo animal collection or at the most, treat rescued native wildlife and shelter them temporarily.

“Last year, following seizures in West Jaintia Hills district we were requested to provide shelter to the rescued wildlife. But we categorically decided against keeping those animals since there is no space,” said Sachin Gavade, Director, Lady Hydari Park and Divisional Forest Officer, Khasi Hills wildlife division. The rescued animals were eventually sent to Guwahati, Assam, Gavade added.

Smuggled animals are usually transported across long distances in cramped cages and crowded vehicles, stacked upon each other. Some reptiles are stuffed in jute bags, suffocating the animals. When the rescued animals are sent to zoos, the zoo-keepers and veterinarians have to keep a watch on their distress levels and timely feeding.

Ashwini Kumar, divisional forest officer and director of Assam State Zoo, Guwahati said that upkeep of seized animals is a major challenge. “We have to figure out their correct dietary regimen and the temperatures they need for comfort. We have to also test them for diseases,” Kumar said.

Deaths of such rescued animals is not uncommon. In 2020, a hyacinth macaw died in Alipore zoo, soon after it was rescued from Kolkata airport by law-enforcement agencies.

Rising trend of wildlife smuggling, increased vigilance

While smuggling exotic wildlife into the country has seen a growing trend, seizures by law-enforcement agencies has also been steady. In October 2022, the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 1204 reptiles, including ball python, green iguana and corn snakes at Chennai while 650 exotic reptiles were seized in Mumbai, the DRI noted in its Smuggling in India report, for the year 2021-22.

“There is more sensitisation among border security agencies and focus on intercepting consignments of smuggled wildlife has increased, along with the traditional focus on arms smuggling. After the pandemic, there is increased seriousness about the threats that such animals pose to local ecology and humans. All this has led to a rise in seizures too,” said Jimmy Borah, senior manager, legal and advocacy division, Aaranyak, a Guwahati-based non-profit organisation.

Borah added that building new rescue centres will reduce the pressure on some zoos.

How the animals end up in zoos

Once enforcement agencies such as Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and state police departments seize consignments, the state forest departments file a case at local police stations.

Prior to the amendment of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, cases of illegal exotic wildlife trade were usually filed under the Customs Act or the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act as the Wildlife Protection Act did not accord protection to exotic wildlife.

Hence, Customs Act would be applicable on grounds of illegal import of animals while the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act would apply because of unscientific and crowded transport of animals.

However, after its amendment, the Wildlife Protection Act, 2022, now protects exotic species. The amendments aligned the Act with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), an international treaty on sustainable trade of flora and fauna.

“The new wildlife protection act has included those exotic animals, listed in CITES appendices, in Schedule 4 categories, and this Act will be used to prosecute in matters of wildlife seizures. However, the exotic animals not protected under the CITES are still outside the purview of the Wildlife Protection Act,” said Agni Mitra, Regional Deputy Director, East, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.

Once the cases are filed, the local courts usually consult the forest department on finding a suitable shelter for the seized animals, which are essentially evidence till the cases are taken to their logical conclusion. Consequently, on the basis of court’s orders, animals are taken to zoos or existing rescue centres for safekeeping.

This story was first published in Mongabay India

Photo sources: iguana, Indri lemur, De Brazza's Monkey