*Why our act has failed in giving protection to exotic endangered spices. *
Hi friends, Recent Pet, exotic birds, fishes exhibition at Mumbai, a matter which needs attention. Our Wildlife Protection Act(WPA) which protects all wild animals from being captured or display fails to give any protection to exotic wildlife. This no law situation for their protection gives ample scope for their free trade and also invites smuggling since breeding any wildlife in captivity is always difficult. One should also understand that all exotic coming to our most populated cites find it extremely difficult to adjust the high decibel level of sound that our cities have because of huge population and traffic which is surely absent in wild as well as in other residential cities and towns of the world. Thus absence of law not only cause curlety to these spices but also which gives a chance to organizers of such exhibition in freely exploiting such displaying of exotic wildlife and exposing these spices to huge crowd. Since the wild spices of parrots, fishes and even tortoise that find place in these exhibition r exotic, one may not be sure but it may be possibly that these spices r endangered. A detail study of each spices is required to know their country and region of origin and what is the status of that spices in that country and region. It is really surprising that our acts gives protection to a simple 6 to 8 inches parakeet but fails to protect a 2 feet African Gray Parrot. What way a tortoise found in Indian waters is different from a tortoise found in a foreign land. Have we all got dumb to except such nonsense. Our Government protests quite vociferously when Tiger parts are traded in China, saying that it encourages poaching in India. Doesn’t this smack of hypocrisy? We allow free trade of some other countries' endangered species and protest when someone else does the same. Though the organizers of this exhibition r very smart and firstly there was no press advertisement to avoid undue publicity and possibly selected target customers were invited by personal invitation. Secondly there was no sign which shows in exhibition that any of the exotic spices r for sale but it is common sense why a breeder would put his time and energy in breading any spices which has no market value. Surely these spices r for sale may not in exhibition but outside. The very purpose of display in exhibition, is to attract more future customer. We can still get them to stop showing them under the PCA Act especially Performing Animals Rules 2001. Such exotic spices r sold for thousands and lakhs, so their buyers also happen to be the be the most influential people in society, including politicians and celebrities, who hardly care for law and its implications because of their power of money and influence. We need to also understand what is the reason for a spices to be declared as wild, will the same wild remain wild if it starts migrating to residential localities in search of food. Or a wild spices will no longer remain wild if it could be domesticated. There could be many such issues which could attract debate and possibly courts intervention. It will also be a matter of investigation, who r the buyers of such spices and surely already must be in procession of many such wildlife's. India happens to be one of the signatories of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) which prohibits any trade in internationally endangered species. It is a matter for study if CITIS 1. Covers only all international endangered spices or all form of international wildlife whether it is endangered or not. 2. Does it even prevents procession and breeding of such endangered spices irrespective of whether a person is found trading or not. In absence of CITIS giving cover to all form of wildlife, it is urgent need to have either improvisation of this convention or to have a new convention to cover all forms of wildlife to prevent their exploitation and cruelty by even their procession by individuals. City has long force of bird watchers and wildlife lovers which could be easily seen in HSBC bird Run that takes place every year. Hope these birds and wildlife lovers takes this issue seriously to give their feather friends, the real love and protection that they expect from them and visit this exhibition to identify the spices and thereafter what best they could do for them. If any Indian law is broken and taken for a ride, it is not only the organizer of any exhibition that is responsible for such violation of law but also the owner of the venue where such exhibition takes place. It needs to be seen in this case how far law goes as there seem to be a powerful lobby behind this show. Even media could be easily influenced by this powerful lobby to give a positive image of the exhibition. Media presented exiting coverage of these attractive spices and their action, but forget to cover the basic deficiency of law. One needs to understand the basic concept and policy with which our wildlife acts r enacted and this is to discourage people from owning any wildlife but such shows r promoting people to own one. Nature gives understanding to the most insignificant creature that it should protect its personal freedom even at the cost of its life and that is what our laws also give them protection so that they r not caged but such exhibition and visits by renowned political encourages people to own these spices in cages. After my posting of this issue on different e-group, few likeminded people have come together to form EPLAC so that we could create awareness in all nature lovers and bring them together to force government to make necessary amendment in present laws. We also appeal that all nature lovers who participate any future nature events such as HSBC bird race would wear a black band to draw government attention towards this issue and also show their dissatisfaction towards the present state of affairs. Rgds, Jitendra Gupta Member-Exotic Protection law action committee(EPLAC) 9891235160 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix?hl=en.
