ZSI addresses poaching & ivory trade dispute
Kolkata: The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kolkata has been instrumental in addressing a trans-boundary dispute of elephant poaching and trade of ivory between India and Nepal.
DNA forensics was used to ascertain the individual identity of a poached elephant in Jhapa, Nepal ,and ivory which was suspected to be from the same individual elephant confiscated in Siliguri in North Bengal. The forensic parameters has established the fact that the two analyzed samples of elephant were not identical and belong to two different individuals.
The ZSI had received two confiscated samples of elephant from the Office of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Siliguri. The seized ivory was recovered from the possession of two persons who had smuggled the same from Nepal to India. It was observed that tusks appeared to be relatively fresh and extracted recently. Further, intelligence collected from Nepal had found a recent incidence of elephant killing in Nepal at Budhbare area which is close to the Indo-Nepal border.
Concerns were raised from the law enforcement agency that ivory recovered and seized by them might have been cut off from the elephant found dead in Nepal.
The ZSI also received body remains (piece of ivory ) from the office of the Department of National Parks & Wildlife Conservation under MoEF, of Nepal government to find out whether it matches with the DNA of the seized ivories in India.
"The study has established that the two seizures as received at ZSI, Kolkata for matching DNA fingerprints from the body remains, one from India and other from Nepal, originated from two different individuals," said ZSI scientist Mukesh Thakur.
The present study highlights the necessity of transboundary research for elephant conservation and monitoring their movements in Kanchenjunga landscape and emphasizes the use of forensic genetics in curbing illegal wildlife trade. The study has further proposed to initiate a joint effort by India, Nepal and Bhutan to establish genetic data of elephant in this region to assign the source of origin of confiscated materials and understand the biology of an elephant.
Apart from Thakur, ZSI scientists Sujeet Singh, GulJabin, Thomas Basumatary and Gopal Prakash Bhattarai were involved in the work under the leadership of ZSI Director Kailash Chandra.
The Kanchenjunga landscape is shared by three countries – Bhutan, India, and Nepal and the wild elephants migrate from east of Jhapa (Nepal), through Bengal (India) and Sibsoo (Bhutan) to further east in Assam (India). The route Jhapa-WB-Sibsoo-Assam is a known route for elephant movements where maximum causalities have been reported in the past.
As reported by the Wildlife Protection Society of India almost 371 elephants have been poached in India between 2006 and 2017. Though other agencies claim there has been poaching of over 2000 male elephants in south India alone.
The trade of elephant ivory is restricted by the Convention on Illegal Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 of India, National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 2029 (1973) and CITES Act, 2073 (2017) of Nepal.
