I feel that there is a gap in the above-mentioned aspect of wildlife crime management. I would appreciate it if anyone can share any documents or Weblinks related to the same. This is high time to develop clear guidelines which will also contribute to our pandemic preparedness. Responses to this post would be highly appreciated.
Thanks & Regards, Aditi Sharma,
This is Aditi Sharma and I am a Veterinarian. I completed my Masters in Veterinary Surgery & Radiology in 2004. I did a PG Diploma in Advanced Wildlife Management from the Wildlife Institute of India in 2015 & PG Diploma in One Health from COHORT, Kerela in 2023. I served the Department of Animal Husbandry in Uttarakhand State Government as Senior Veterinary Officer for 20 years and retired voluntarily on 31st January 2023 to continue as a Freelancer Wildlife Consultant. Currently, I am working on three projects related to Wildlife Health, One Health & Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation. I served in Rajaji Tiger Reserve in Northern India for 5 years from 2015-2020. I am the Founder of two public charitable Trusts, one works for women's empowerment & safety and the other works for environment conservation.
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@Arvind Kumar Chaurasia, any insights here?
sure
Thanks for facilitating the discussion.
I agree that lack of SOP/Guidelines and required physical & veterinary infrastructure poses many problems in proper management of seized wildlife. The standard practice being followed in India is that whenever a live wildlife species is seized, that is handed over to the nearest Govt. Zoo or Central Zoo Authority approved private Zoo/Rescue & Rehabilitation Centre for their care by veterinarians. In case of native species, they are released in the wild when they are found fit for that. In case of exotic live species, they are kept in Zoo/Rescue & Rehabilitation Centre till they are repatriated to their native country (in case of CITES listed species). In case of body parts/products/derivatives, they are disposed of/destroyed as per prescribed procedure. However, it is learnt that Central Zoo Authority is working on developing SOP/Guidelines for seized live wildlife management.
Thanks for sharing the valuable information Sir. It will be a great help. Would you mind me asking you to kindly share a copy of any supporting documents you mentioned eg. the prescribed procedure for disposing of the body parts/products/derivatives? My objective as a Veterinarian working with wildlife is to focus on ensuring humane handling & the welfare of the seized wild animal, prevention of bidirectional transmission of zoonotic diseases, ensuring occupational safety of the enforcement officers, and of course, adopting the One Health Approach during the seizure operations. I would highly appreciate it if you could share the existing documents.
Thanks & Regards.
IFAW has an ongoing project (CARE) on empowering frontline officers to handle seized wildlife. They might be able to share with you some useful resources:
https://www.ifaw.org/international/projects/care
https://www.ifaw.org/international/journal/confiscator-kits-protect-animal-officers
I think you would find the "Guidelines for the management of confiscated, live organisms" developed by the IUCN Species Survival Commission in 2019 a useful resource or at least a useful starting point. Please have a look at this link: https://www.iucn.org/resources/publication/guidelines-management-confiscated-live-organisms