'Alarming' Fashion Statement..!!!

[Guest guest]

I often wonder if anything can `alarm' us anymore now, with regards to the

wildlife crisis that we're facing! After Sariska, I guess not! The following

article says that the govt. has sounded off an 'alarm' over the increase in the

poaching and smuggling of reptiles in the terai belt of Uttar Pradesh, near the

Nepal border. Ironically and interestingly, Dudhwa National Park is located

there. WCCB has expressed fear and concern over the cross-border smuggling due

to the apathetical and lackadaisical attitude of the forest officers posted in

and around that area. Some of the snakes and the lizards smuggled across would

soon be seen hanging onto the shoulders of a celebrity or on the foot of an

actor!!!!!!!! Some fashion statement they would make..huh!!!!Atleast it would

gladden the hearts of the forest officials that thier 'wards' are going

'international'..literally!!!! In the words of Helen Keller – `Science may have

found a cure for most evils, but it has found no remedy for the worst of them

all – the apathy of human beings.'

 

Regards

Radhika Singh

 

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Increase-i\

n-reptile-smuggling-worries-wildlife-officials-/articleshow/4641744.cms

 

Increase in reptile smuggling worries wildlife officials 10 Jun 2009, 2321 hrs

IST, PTI

 

NEW DELHI: An alarming increase in the smuggling of reptiles such as monitor

lizards, snakes and turtles in the Tarai belt of Uttar Pradesh bordering Nepal

has prompted the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau to issue an alert. " We fear that

there is possible involvement of an organized nexus of cross-border poachers who

are swiftly smuggling the reptiles to the international market via Nepal route

where political instability has made their task easier, " Ramesh Pandey of WCCB

said. He was of the view that the new emerging pattern in wildlife trade from

the region that borders with Nepal as well as the state of Uttarakhand need to

be tracked. " Going by a large number of seizures of turtles, sand boas (snake

species) and monitor lizards, it seems the trade appears to be controlled by an

organized nexus with the help of locals. We have issued alert in the state to

keep the officials on their guard, " Pandey said. He said since the species are

found in non-forest areas as well, quiet often the criminals take advantage of

the ignorance of the officers on duty, who are at times oblivious to the

changing wildlife crime trends in the international market.