Stop the Hunting of Wildlife in India

One of today’s major drivers of biodiversity loss and a transnational crime is illegal trade. Indian crested porcupine (Hysterix indica), an elusive nocturnal mammal of India is yet another victim to this expanding trade. This mammal is often referred to ‘a biodiversity engineer’ as the microhabitats created by their burrows, facilitatebetter plant diversity. Porcupines are a protected species in India under Schedule IV of Wildlife Protection Act of India, 1972. Often poached for their quills which is considered as an auspicious item for religious events, believed to possess antibiotic properties, meat - as a delicacy for the tribal , hair and tail used as a medicine to cure piles, Wildlife Trust of India is currently undertaking a rapid action project to investigate the illegal trade and ways it could be stopped in selected sites of Northern Western Ghats landscape. It is found that a city in the state of Maharashtra, Pune, is proving to be a major hub for many forest and wildlife products and porcupine parts being one of them. The project also revealed the three resident tribes in the landscape, i.e. Katkari, Pardhis and nomadic Kasturi tribes who are directly or indirectly involved with the illegal porcupine trade.

Through the trade survey, the project found evidences of rampant hunting of porcupines which definitely has a direct impact on the porcupine numbers in the wild. To address this, Wildlife Trust of India through your support aims to execute well planned strategies like patrolling, effective law enforcements, seizures and sensitization in these targeted areas.