Explained: Wildlife Protection Act And A Worrying Future of Elephants If Amendments Are Passed

India is one of the megadiverse country in the world with home to around 7-8 percent of the world¡¯s recorded species. This rich fauna has not just been an integral part of India¡¯s environmental history but has also been instrumental in shaping its Wildlife Protection Act (WLPA), 1972 as its a leading law to protect and conserve the country's wildlife.

Wildlife SOS

The WLPA was essentially a progressive law that banned hunting of wild animals and created protected wildlife areas, allowing flora and fauna to flourish. The act played a vital role in redirecting domestic policy away from their commodification by banning the commercial trade of all wild animals. Despite the Act that states -- no wild animal can be taken from the wild, on enactment of the law, an exception was created for elephants that were in captivity at that time.

The Captivity of Elephants in India

Elephant's captivity is easily associated with the cultural history of India and is treated as an acceptable practice. Captive elephants are classified under three main classes. First, elephants belong to the government through Forest Departments and zoological parks. Secondly, elephants used solely for entertainment purposes in circuses and joy rides are increasingly being phased out. Lastly, the ones that are in private custody (majority in numbers), are used for religious ceremonies and processions.

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What WLPA Act says

The WLPA Act defined captive elephants as cattle, essentially non-wild. Going back to the colonial era, the understanding of captive elephants as a monetised tradeable commodity is adopted in continuation to the colonial practice of elephant trading. And since then there has always been a demand to monetise elephant ownership and permit their trade in the open market because an elephant is the only wild species that can be legally owned.

Chaturbhuja Behera of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau in the 2011 Report

A report published by Chaturbhuja Behera of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau in 2011, warned of an active nexus between the illegal capture of wild elephants from Assam and their trade via Bihar to meet the temple demands of the southern states.

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The exemption under Section 40 of the WLPA gives special status to elephants regarding possession, inheritance, or acquisition, enabling the elephant traders to defy the ban and continue with the illegal elephant trading. The trend is people are ¡®gifting¡¯ elephants using a loophole in the law and their trade flourishes.

Taking all these activities into consideration, In December 2021, the Centre has proposed to amend this Act in ways ¡°welcome¡± and ¡°positive¡±. However, many activists raised their issues of concern which need urgent attention.

How is New Amendment undermining elephant protection?

The Wildlife Protection Act contains six Schedules, at the end of the Act that describes the protections or management actions applicable to different species (for which the basis for classification isn¡¯t included). For instance, species listed under Schedule I enjoy the highest protection and wildlife crimes associated with these species attract the highest penalties. On the contrary, Schedule V lists species classified as ¡®vermin¡¯.

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Provisions of Bill

The Bill has provisions of "excessive delegation and unrestricted power of the Central government to declare species as vermin" in contrast to the current law. On declaration of any wild animal as 'vermin', the animal then enjoys no legal protection and has the same status as a domestic animal. It can be hunted, killed, traded, and tamed.

The bone of contention?

Clause 27 of the current Wildlife Protection Act amendment is a volte-face that proposes to permit the commercial trade of elephants. Legalising the elephant trade for the first time in 50 years, this move is dangerous and inexplicably regressive.

Under the condition this proposed clause of Section 27 becomes a law, then the blanket ban on the trade of wild elephants in Section 43 will exempt live elephants from it. The revised Section will also permit the commercial display of trophies, and captive animals and even permit the transfer or transportation of animals, trophies, and animal articles.

Allowing commercial elephant trades in today¡¯s age of climate change provides us with a critical lens to develop holistic policies that work both for humans as well as animals.

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