Photo: Anuwar Ali.The close ties between political insurgents and wildlife traffickers have been documented repeatedly in recent years. Elephant and tiger poaching in 19 Naxalite-affected districts in Odisha has reduced populations of those animals to dangerously low levels. Rhinos have been hard hit in other states where militant groups hold sway in sanctuaries and forests.
In a January 29, 2014 opinion piece in The Times of India, Binoy Behera, a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who has closely studied the connection between elephant poaching and insurgency in Odisha, said that Indian authorities continue to fail to integrate anti-poaching and anti-insurgency efforts, to the peril of India's heritage animals and its security. Behera quotes Richard Jenkins, manager of the Global Species Programme of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), who said that if poachers are to be brought to heel, “We have to look for greater cooperation with agencies that have more experience with criminal and security issues."
Author: Jennifer Scarlott, Source: The Times of India.
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