Animals not on conservation priority falling prey to poachers

KATHMANDU, Feb 11: Wildlife not on the list of government´s priority for conservation are being increasingly targeted by poachers, raising serious concerns over their vulnerability, said law enforcement officers in Kathmandu on Wednesday. The government has several action plans in order to conserve elephants, rhinos and tigers, so the number of wildlife crimes related to those animals have significantly declined, said DSP Sabin Pradhan, the country coordinator for Operation COBRA II. Operation COBRA II is a joint operation involving multiple countries that was held from December 30 to January 26 to apprehend wildlife criminals in Asian and African countries. During the period, the operation was carried out in 14 districts of Nepal, resulting in the arrest of 14 people involved in wildlife crimes. DSP Pradhan said, “We found that many of the wildlife poachers had been on a hunt for animals other than tigers, rhinos and elephant.” The poachers have turned their focus on red panda, pangolin, beer, musk deer, among others. Because of the cooperation among different law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders, the wildlife crimes on protected animals and birds have been declining, he claimed. The operation has prompted the government to adopt new intelligence on poaching and trafficking syndicates, according to law enforcement officers. It is equally important to invest on intelligence to curb wildlife crimes in Nepal, they emphasized. According to Inspector Bhola Kumar Bhatta, who coordinated the operation from Bangkok, said that more than 400 criminals were arrested worldwide, including several trafficking kingpins, during the operation. Global seizures included tons of wildlife products--36 rhino horns, over three metric tons of elephant ivory, over 10,000 turtles, over 1,000 skins of protected animals and more than 200 metric tons of rosewood logs. Similarly, about 1,200 live snakes, 120 live tortoise, 25 lizards and 65 pangolins were also seized during the period. The operation was launched a year after the first Cobra operation, with six more countries joining it this year. Inspector Bhatta said the operation brought all the stakeholders together to coordinate the interception of wildlife traffickers and conduct follow-up investigations. The operation had the participation of China, the United States, South Africa, the Lusaka Agreement Task Force, ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network, and South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network and was supported by different CITES, the World Customs Organization and Interpol. Law enforcement officers have said that the operation has created a ground for fighting the transnational crime and help build wildlife law enforcement capacity nationally and regionally, mobilize departmental support and political will and enhance communication between Africa and Asia and among range to combat the illegal trade in wildlife. The operation has also found that the organized wildlife trafficking has turned more dangerous than ever before because of porous borders and strong networks of organized crimes. (Source : Rebublica)