NEW DELHI: Murdered jungle cats, monitor lizards, purple moorhens, and open-billed storks are just some of the many endangered species being openly sold for food at a market in Puducherry, India. The birds and mammals, specifically protected under Indian Wildlife Laws, are being poached out of the nearby Oussudu wildlife sanctuary. The local forestry department has traced the poaching to a single group. It appears the poachers are slaughtering animals wholesale with an illegal chemical called endosulfan. Still, the Forest management has refused to take any action, claiming they are helpless to stop this illegal trade, which has led animal rights activists to issue a petition online calling for action. “Tell India's Ministry of Environment and Forests to crack down on the sale of endosulfan, prosecute poachers, and put an end to this abonimable trade,” the statement reads in its calls for the government to step up its efforts to end the illegal killing animals in the country. Across India, the sale of the meat of wild animals, including jungle cats, jackal, porcupine and other endangered animals, has reached “mammoth proportions and if the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) does not take steps to counter this trade, it will create a dangerous precedent where predator cats, including tiger, leopard and lion, population will have no prey base left to feed on," a report issued by Belinda Write, the executive director of Wildlife Protection Society of India said. She has filed a notice under Section 55 of the Wildlife Protection Act to update the director of Wildlife, MoEF of this growing problem. “It's a highly organized business being undertaken by small poaching gangs where the meat is being delivered in homes and eateries by motorcyclists who work on a commission basis," she said at a book release forum. Maneka Gandhi, MP and chairperson of People for Animals, stressed that the Wildlife Crime Bureau had to clampdown on the proliferation of urban markets selling wildlife. “No wildlife monitoring systems are in place and the department of forests under the MoEF does not encourage interaction with NGOs," she said. They were speaking at the book release of Protected Animals of India by Sanjay Sondhi published by The Energy and Resources Institute.
