The ivory trade in India

[Guest guest]

http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/155467/1/5339

On the ivory trail

*B K Sharma*

22 November 2007

It will come as no surprise that the world's largest terrestrial mammal

continues to be besieged from all sides. In addition to threats to its

habitat throughout Africa and Asia, smuggling and illicit trade in ivory

pose major challenges to law enforcement authorities across the world.

 

Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) data, presented at the June 2007

CITES (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species)

conference at The Hague, Netherlands revealed that over 322 tons of illegal

ivory has been seized in 12,400 instances from 82 countries between 1989 to

March 2007.

 

Worldwide, the number of ivory seizures averages 92 cases a month or three

per day.

 

The Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Nigeria are the biggest

source countries, while China, Japan, and Thailand are the largest consumer

destinations, with Philippines emerging as the most frequent transit point.

 

Large volume seizures of one ton or more have multiplied both in number and

size and the last two years have witnessed some of the biggest seizures of

illegal ivory in the history of wildlife enforcement.

 

Ingenious concealment techniques, mis-declaration of documents, several

trans-shipments and re-routing of cargo have revealed the organised nature

of the crime and thrown up new challenges to enforcement.

 

Customs officers in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, confiscated more than five metric

tons of ivory over three days in July 2006, marking the largest-ever seizure

of contraband ivory in the history of wildlife enforcement in the region. A

total of 1,228 pieces of ivory, including whole tusks were discovered in

cargo containers being transported from Tanzania to the Philippines.

 

The tusks were hidden in wooden boxes inside the container and were

bloodstained, indicating that they had not been processed after being

extracted from the elephants. Experts estimate that if it was a case of

poaching, at least 614 elephants were slaughtered to supply the 1,228 pieces

of seized ivory.

 

In August 2007, Dar es Salam police in Tanzania arrested a person in

possession of 223 elephant tusks. The tusks had been taken from 112

elephants killed by poachers and were being specially packed in boxes for

export. Investigations revealed close linkage with the seizure in Kaohsiung,

Taiwan in July 2006.

 

*The Indian experience *

 

Notwithstanding the religious significance, there is, of course, a long

history of elephant hunting in India. Elephants have been hunted primarily

for their valuable tusks, but also for meat, and minor medicinal uses.

 

Some elephants also die each year due to human-animal conflict, deliberate

or accidental contact with high tension wires and poisoning.

 

R. Sukumar, an Indian elephant expert, estimates that between 1968 and 1980,

more than 40,000 elephants have been captured or killed. While the annual

poaching rate stabilised between 20 and 30 in the 1980s, the onset of the

'90s witnessed unprecedented killing, despite the institution of an

international ban on ivory in 1989.

 

Seventy-eight poaching incidents were recorded in 1994, followed by 109 in

1995. Ninety-one deaths were recorded in 1996, but 1997 earned the dubious

distinction as one of the worst years for elephants, with 120 incidents of

poaching recorded. In 1999, 112 elephants died, while 2002 had 113 killings.

 

 

Assam has the highest number of poaching cases (121 over a period of six

years ending in 2005) with 46 killings in 2002 alone. The southern states of

Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which for many years witnessed organised

killing under the notorious poacher Veerappan until he was killed by police

in 2005, lost 120 elephants during this period.

 

It is important to note that it is estimated India only has some 1,200

tuskers of breeding age. Their selective poaching has a tremendous adverse

effect on the demographic structure and ultimately on the survival of the

elephant.

 

In addition, poaching statistics are undoubtedly lower than the actual

numbers of animals killed, due to the difficulty of finding carcasses in

inaccessible terrains, deliberate under-reporting or non-reporting and the

problem of correlating ivory seizures to mortality in the absence of DNA

profiling or isotopic forensic assistance.

 

A TRAFFIC (the wildlife trade monitoring network of the World Wildlife

Fund-WWF) study of the ivory trade in India during 2000-01 showed that there

is considerable domestic and international demand for ivory artefacts such

as carvings, jewellery and, even occasionally, name seals made by Indian

craftsmen.

 

There is a continuing link between domestic demand and unique cultural

traditions that produce religious articles and paintings made of ivory.

 

While Orissa, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are key source areas,

there are active markets of worked ivory in Murshidabad, Jaipur, Udaipur,

Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. Between 1996 and 2001, an annual average of at

least 270 kg of raw ivory was seized, besides huge seizures of finished

products.

 

*The Orissa saga *

 

It is believed that the tusks of Orissa elephants are unusually hard due to

the high temperatures and humidity, making them even more attractive to

poachers.

 

In a period of 16 years ending in March 2006, 214 elephants were killed

here, averaging 13 per year. A real crisis developed in April 2006 with the

killing of three elephants. By November, 38 elephants had been killed, 11 of

which were confirmed to have been brutally poached for tusk or tush.

 

The landscape of killing extended from Simlipal to Chandka and from Athgarh

to Satkosia. At least eight elephants were shot to death, and the trunks of

four were chopped off to remove the tusks from their roots.

 

Entrusted with the investigation of some of the cases, the State Crime

Branch discovered the involvement of the Lishu tribes of Arunachal Pradesh

in some killings.

 

A major breakthrough came in February 2007 when a joint team of the Crime

Branch and the forest department arrested three members of an organised gang

with connections to wildlife crime syndicates in the capital city of

Bhubaneshwar and recovered 16 kg of tusks and other wildlife articles

including a leopard skin. Investigations revealed that the gang was linked

to Kolkata-based traders, and was financing the poaching and buying the

tusks. Charge sheeting the case within the statutory limitation period led

to incarceration of the offenders for over six months.

 

*The way forward *

 

As long as tusks continue to have an illegal market, and institutional

arrangements to protect elephants remain porous, poaching will return and

often with a vengeance.

 

Until we improve our professional capabilities to protect our wildlife from

organised crime syndicates, those syndicates will continue to 'loot, kill,

smuggle, fence and hoard our impossibly precious, feathered and scaly wild

things'.

 

In spite of a stringent *Wildlife Protection Act* that is comparable to any

international legislation, we have consistently failed in on-ground

enforcement. Where, the law has been effectively enforced under dynamic

leadership, there have been many impressive seizures. The quality of

subsequent investigation has been shoddy, however.

 

The deterrence afforded by prompt arrests has been lost when defendants have

easily got bail. Hostile witnesses and delayed trials have resulted in

acquittals and most of the wildlife cases instituted on the basis of

'complaints' and not 'charge-sheets' are pending in the stage of pre-charge

evidence.

 

A little fine-tuning and some minor procedural changes could go a long way

towards strengthening the statute, while an institutionalised coordinated

approach on the part of enforcement agencies would greatly increase their

efficacy.

 

Enforcement officials need exposure to the latest techniques and equipment

in forensic science. Actionable intelligence and a strong data-bank are the

*sine qua non *of an effective enforcement regime. Such a regime can be

developed through the establishment of the proposed National and also State

Wildlife Crime Control Bureaus.

 

International cooperation with countries on the receiving end of India's

wildlife is essential, and effective border management is imperative.

Enforcement agencies must dismantle organised syndicates through forfeiture

of illegally-acquired property, professional investigation and successful

prosecution.

 

Time is running out for India's elephants and other wildlife. We must act

swiftly to fight the organised crime syndicates before they push many of our

precious species to the point of no return.

 

*The author, Inspector General of Police and head of the State Crime Branch

of Orissa, has an abiding interest in wildlife and is recognised as one of

India's leading experts on the illegal wildlife trade. *