In a cruel irony, seahorses, whales, and sharks — creatures from the sea — are taking flight, literally and for the wrong reasons. Illegal wildlife trade is taking to the skies, and enforcement agencies say that smuggling of marine life has been on the rise for four years.
This year alone, some of the most startling seizures reported from Karnataka have involved marine life. Among the most notable cases was in August 2024, when two passengers from Tamil Nadu en route to Singapore via Mumbai were apprehended at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). Based on a tip-off, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) busted an international smuggling racket engaged in the illegal trade of dried seahorses and recovered 6,626 seahorses from their baggage.
“The demand for seahorses in southeast Asian markets is primarily driven by their use in traditional medicine, gourmet cuisine, and as ornamental species for aquariums. In traditional Chinese medicine, seahorses are prized for their supposed health benefits, while they are also considered a delicacy in some culinary traditions. Additionally, their unique appearance makes them popular among marine enthusiasts,” a DRI official explained.
Chitradurga forest officials in November 2022 seized four blackbuck skins, 3 kg of pangolin scales, a live blackbuck, and two country-made muzzle load guns that were used to hunt the animals in the reserve forest area. | Photo Credit: special arrangement
Massive haul
The enforcement agencies, from 2023 to July this year, conducted 66 operations across Karnataka and recovered porcupine quills, Alexandrine parakeets, elephant tusks, spotted deer skin and horns, bison horns, 170 kilos of Stony corals, tiger nails, 9-foot long python skins, 55 ball pythons, 17 Thailand king cobras, capuchins, spider monkeys, spotted deer antlers, elephant bones, hippo tusks, owls, woodpeckers, jungle cat paws, nails and teeth, wild boar teeth, jackal teeth, red sand boa, otter skin, pangolin scales, 937 monitor lizard penis, 125 sea fans, leopard nails and civet cat jaws.
In addition to these, seizures included five kilos of ambergris and 116 kilos of sea shells.
Illegal wildlife trade has not left the land route behind. In May this year, a bus conductor thwarted a smuggling attempt of 218 endangered star tortoises when he observed movement in a passenger’s bags. The CID forest cell, which further investigated the cases, raided five pet shops in Bengaluru and also recovered five-star turtles from the Koramangala house of a businessman who runs an online marketing company.
According to the Bengaluru police, as many as five cases under the Wildlife (Protection) Act have been registered this year where the accused, who were trying to sell sperm whale ambergris and corals smuggled from neighbouring Tamil Nadu, were caught. All the accused arrested worked as carriers who were offered money or a cut in the profit to hand over the consignments.
Seahorses that were seized by officials of the Customs Preventive Unit while being smuggled on a bus in Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu in April 2018. | Photo Credit: BALACHANDAR L.
A lot go undetected
Enforcement agencies admit that though the number of cases is on the rise, this is a small proportion of the actual quantum of marine life being smuggled to South Asian countries, as many go undetected. “There are few mechanisms to check on fishermen who venture into the sea and are supposed to catch only fish and leave out other marine life, which is prohibited. Due to lack of monitoring, they hunt down scheduled species and either directly sell them to the customers or hand over the catch to the smuggling racket, who would give them a cut in the profit,” said a DRI official.
According to the Counter Wildlife Trafficking Programme, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) - India, which produced a report on illegal wildlife trade in the pandemic-hit 2020 using online media reports and other publicly available information, 522 cases of wildlife poaching and illegal wildlife trade were reported from India. Notable species that were frequently documented include big cats, pangolins, tortoises and freshwater turtles, among others.
The forest cell of the CID arrested four persons from Maharashtra who were trying to sell antique jewels and boxes made of tusks in February 2023. | Photo Credit: special arrangement
Species most at risk
Speaking about the species most at risk, Trishanti Paul, Lead Researcher of the Counter Wildlife Trafficking Programme, WCS-India, said over 1,900 kg of pangolin scales have been seized from the northeastern states between 2012 and 2024 (until August 2024).
“Illegal wildlife trade also impacts marine ecosystems, endangering the livelihood of fishing communities who depend on these species,” noted Rebecca Lewis, another Lead Researcher at CWT. In a separate assessment of illegal marine trade, they recorded a total of 14,188 kg of processed and dried fins seized across eight incidents between 2015 and 2021 in the country. Other marine species groups documented in illegal trade include sea cucumbers, seahorses, seashells, corals and rays.
Impact of pandemic
Sumanth Bindumadhav, Director of the Wildlife Department, Humane Society International/India, said an increase or decrease in wildlife trade is a factor of reporting and increased or decreased proactive enforcement of the law by concerned agencies, but what is apparent is that the diversity of species in trade is increasing with a shifting focus to lesser-known species like the pangolins, lorises, and several species of reptiles. “There has been a marked increase in trade in exotic wildlife for pets, and this is driven by a variety of factors ranging from online trends to availability of certain species, to lacunae in legislation,” he said.
The pandemic, he said, played a role in creating a spike in trade. “Several individuals working in various cities were displaced overnight and forced to return to their hometowns. Many of them resorted to hunting and trade as a means to pay for themselves. It remains unclear if the spike was temporary or has stagnated at the same level. Still, the pandemic did witness an increase in the number of individuals bringing pets home, several of which were exotic. This fuelled the industry further and led to more fly-by-night establishments that breed and sell exotic wildlife with no consideration for their welfare. This is a cause of concern from a welfare standpoint and the point of view of invasive species threatening endemic flora and fauna,” he added.
A case in point is the raid of a two-storeyed house at Lakshmipuram in Kolathur in August by a team of wildlife and customs officials. They seized 647 native Indian scheduled wildlife species and also arrested a 41-year-old dismissed constable running a multi-crore international wildlife trafficking network.
A probe revealed that the house was used as a godown or transit point for smuggling exotic species like monkeys and ball pythons and native Indian species like star tortoises. While the exotic species were sold to buyers, mainly through social media, the native Indian species were trafficked abroad.
African ivory carvings and 16-foot python skin were recovered from the house of a realtor who was trying to sell them in Bengaluru in June 2022. | Photo Credit: special arrangement
Don’t mention value
City-based wildlife consultant R. Sharath Babu, who helps enforcement agencies in cracking cases, said that in addition to better coordination between the agencies, the officials should not fix or mention the value of the seized wildlife or marine life articles. “This actually serves no purpose and increases poaching in many cases,” he added.
Sumanth said the methods of trade and tools used are evolving far too rapidly, especially with the aid of digital tools, e-commerce platforms, and social media, but the primary law enforcement agency, the State Forest Department, is stretched too thin as the same set of officers are fighting forest fires, undertaking plantations, clearing encroachments, managing habitats, managing human-wildlife conflict and fighting illegal trade.
“While these are dedicated agencies such as the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, they need to be staffed and equipped further. What is also missing at the moment are rescue centres and rehabilitation facilities that animals rescued from trade could be taken to. Most often, these animals are houses within existing zoos. This is worrying as animals coming in from trade could be host to pathogens that are yet unknown, may have come with trauma that needs specialized care, and have the potential to be rehabilitated and released. All of these needs a facility that is unique from a zoo, with staff who are trained specifically for rehab and not care for animals meant for exhibit and education,” he said.
Systemically, what is required is a centralised wildlife crime database that is either Aadhaar-linked or linked to biometrics, he added. “Essentially, any person accused of violation of Wildlife Protection Act in any part of the country should be able to be finger-printed, and their history, if any, should be available so they may be prosecuted as a repeat offender, as penalties are harsher then, unlike a first-time offender. This would truly enable the law to act as a deterrent. Another systemic requirement is for a wide network of rehabilitation centres across the country for both endemic and exotic wildlife with specific skill sets. With trade in exotic species picking up steam as it is, there is a requirement to have an online database of all transactions of animals, linked to an RFID code that each animal in trade must carry so there is accountability on those who own these,” Sumanth said.
Role of public effort
Curbing illegal wildlife trade also crucially depends on a collective public effort, said Kritika Balaji, Project Manager of the Counter Wildlife Trafficking Programme, WCS-India. “There is, unfortunately, a notable demand for wildlife and their parts and products within the country, underscoring support from citizens to tackle it. With demand for wildlife ranging from keeping them as status symbols to superstitious beliefs around purported benefits of their parts, the impact is far-ranging. A variety of species - from lesser-known butterflies and lizards to iconic tigers and rhinoceros - are affected.”
Offering an example, she said that guided by compassion and a love for animals, one may feel inclined to buy wildlife such as birds and reptiles as pets. “However, caring for these species can be incredibly complex, involving highly specific environmental conditions, diets, and social needs. Often, despite best efforts, these requirements are difficult to meet in domestic settings, resulting in poor health, behavioural issues, and shortened lifespans of the animals. Some wildlife may also be advertised as easy to care for due to being bred in captivity, but their lineage may still be traced back to wild populations, sometimes not very far in the past. This connection means that their demand as pets can perpetuate illegal trade, jeopardizing the survival of the species in the wild,” she further explained, adding that a more impactful way to show our love for these creatures is to support conservation efforts that protect them in their natural habitats.
“By doing so, we can help ensure that wildlife live harmoniously in their ecosystems, where they play vital roles and maintain a balance of nature,” she said.
