Lesser-known wild species like pangolins, monitor lizards, mongoose, spiny-tailed lizards, and mariner turtles are falling prey to poaching and quietly vanishing from the country, wildlife experts say.
"While the threat posed by illegal wildlife trade to tiger and Indian rhinoceros are well publicised, many of India's lesser known species are also rapidly vanishing because of poaching, yet their fate remains largely under the radar," Shekhar Kumar Niraj, head of NGO TRAFFIC, said in a release.
TRAFFIC is working globally on trade in wild animals and plants.
Every year in India, hundreds of pangolins, lizards and tortoises are poached, an estimated 700,000 birds are illegally trapped, and about 70,000 tonnes of sharks are caught, yet the levels of exploitation on these species are rarely reported, the release said.
Wildlife Crime Control Bureau's joint director Kamal Dutta said systematic monitoring by surveys and enhanced field initiatives like identification guides for enforcement personnel and greater sensitisation efforts through the media could be the way ahead for ensuring that wildlife in India reflects beyond the tiger in all glory.
Wildlife Protection Society of India's executive director Belinda Wright said the focus has been on mega species while the lesser-known animals valued in illegal wildlife trade are being quietly and systematically wiped out.
"In some areas professional tiger poaching gangs are now focusing on the lucrative pangolin trade. This is a tragedy in the making and we must do something about it before it is too late," she warned.
