Wayanad turning a purchasing point for smugglers

Located at the most sensitive part of the Nilgiri biosphere, the district is fast turning into an eridearing purchasing point for wildlife smugglers who specialize in the pet-market, according to sources in the Forest Department.Apart from the forests of the state, living objects have been also sourced from adjacent forests of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and sold to middlemen at various centres.The items in their demand-list also are very long which starts from a variety of colourful flies. Some of the most sought after among the fauna were barn owls, star turtles, Malabar squirrel. Malabar civet and spotted dove.The owls and star tortorises are in high demand in the international market as it is delivered by various communities that the presence of these creatures at home would bring prosperity.Owl is also belived to be an essential element in black magic in the USA and Canada.In India it also caters medicinal purpose." In the Overseas market the price of an owl is around Rs.1 lakh while the middlemen pay a paltry amount to the catchers", said S.Guruvayoorappan, South India Coordinator of Wildlife Protection Society of India.Talking to 'Express', he said " though we came across a number of cases in connection witthe trade of unique wildlife, we hope that so far there exist no ntework of smugglers with international linkage". due to the rumours on high price for these varieties, in mant of the villagers have become bird catchers and hunters of such curious wildlife varieties", he said. " It is feared that in the districts located in the Nilgiri Biosphere, the knowledge of tribal communitues of wildlife has been widely misused by smugglers for sourcing rare speccies", he said.It is to be recalled that forest officials have seized star turtles and barn owls from smugllers from the district recently. Being a rare variety here, officials belive that star turtles variety here, officials believe that star turtles might have been sourced by smugglers from adjacent dry forest region, says an official.

The New Indian Exprees, 20th January 2009.