Government will not tolerate poaching & illegal trade of wildlife products
New Delhi :- Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change has said that Government would not tolerate illegal trade of wildlife products as it posed serious threat to biodiversity and sustainable development. Reiterating the need for harmonious co-existence of all living organisms on earth, Shri Javadekar said that Government wanted to send a strong signal against unethical and unlawful trade of wildlife products by destroying the seized products publically. The Minister added that money generated from illegal trafficking and trade of animals and poaching always found a way into illegal activities. Shri Javadekar stated this while presiding over the event of consigning the illegal wildlife products to flames in the incinerator at the National Zoological Park, here today.
Unethical use of products of various animals and plants, often based on unjustified reasons has been a factor flaming illegal activities like poaching, smuggling and illegal wildlife trade. In order to curb this unethical behavior, the law enforcing agencies all over the world including India have been putting in serious efforts in combating the wildlife crimes and have seized a large number of wildlife products.
The illegal wildlife products destroyed by the Ministry of Environment & Forests included those derived from tigers, elephants, leopards, lions, snakes, deer, mongoose, owls, shells etc. Few wildlife articles available in the National Zoological Park were also destroyed. The event was a step towards appreciating the efforts of various law enforcing agencies like forest and wildlife departments, wildlife crime control bureau, police, customs and many others for checking illegal trade of these products. The event also marked Government’s commitment to curb illegal trade of wildlife products, to protect wildlife and preserve biodiversity for the future generations.
