Trafficking menaces high in Thane & Navi Mumbai

Is Thane and Navi Mumbai becoming Pangolin trafficking hub? Wildlife experts seem to believe so given the fact that since February 2018, six live pangolins have been seized by either forest department or by police officials in Thane, Navi Mumbai and adjoining areas.

Pawan Sharma, Wildlife Warden for Thane and President of Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) said that the rising numbers of live Pangolins being seized since past couple of years were concerning and highlighted the need for better coordination between forest department and police and interlinking of data of accused with history of poaching or wildlife trafficking.

"Carriers would certainly prefer interiors of Thane and areas around Navi Mumbai for carrying and moving live animals as transportation would be easier given the vast network of highways, railways and also it would be easier to get away without being noticed," said Sharma adding that this could be only tackled with strong enforcement and intelligence gathering that will need capacity building of the forest department.

A wildlife expert specialising on gathering information on wildlife trafficking network said that these seizures are just small drops in the ocean.

"Even the forest department knows the extent at which poaching of pangolins is being carried out in Maharashtra, Most of these animals are hunted or captured live from the Western Ghats and then carriers transport them or the scales to be sold in the market," said the expert adding that unfortunately the forest department itself lacks knowledge about pangolins.

Experts state that the demand for pangolin scales has seen a huge spike internationally in last few years, which has also resulted in a sharp jump in the costs that make dealing in pangolin scales far more profitable. Hence many organised poaching networks prefer pangolins, which are much easy to hunt or capture with the help of local tribals or farmers.

Kedar Gore, Director, The Corbett Foundation said that forest areas in Konkan and the Western Ghats in Maharashtra that are outside the purview of protected area (PA) network are very important biodiversity treasure houses and should be protected and managed for this ecological value.

Pangolin’s troubles

Heavily trafficked 

• Meat is considered delicacy among various communities and also due to some alleged medicinal values
• Scales are used in traditional oriental medicines as an aphrodisiac and to cure various ailments

How are they hunted

• Pangolins are smoked or dug out of their burrows and dipped into boiling water to extract the scales. Poachers, who are contacted by traffickers, lure local tribals to locate the animal about which there is little public knowledge

Recent seizures

• Feb 2018: Thane crime branch unit-5 arrested two people for selling live pangolin 
• Oct 2018: Thane Crime Branch Unit 1 arrested three men and rescued a pangolin, 
• Dec 2018: Raigad police arrested four persons for selling live pangolin 
• Jan 2019: Thane crime branch arrested two people from Mumbra
• March 2019: Panvel forest officials arrested 7 men for selling Pangolin that unfortunately died due to suffocation in the gunny bag
• May 2019: Forest department from Sudhagadh Range, Alibaug arrest eight people for selling live baby and mother pangolin