Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Tuesday inaugurated the logo of the Tamil Nadu Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), a unit formed recently to prevent wildlife crimes in the State.
Over 190 offences have been detected by the WCCB, as per an official release. These include the sale of ivory, ivory products, tiger skins and their parts and possession of snakes, parrots, sea conch and sea shells. While the WCCB can detect and intercept wildlife crimes, it has no legal authority to book an offence.
The WCCB operates in four zones — Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Ramanathapuram — with 118 frontline forest workers across the State. As per the Forest Department, the unit’s main objectives are gathering information and intelligence on wildlife crime, preventing the illegal sale of wildlife and wildlife products and collaborating with global organisations.
It will also establish standard guidelines related to wildlife crime, and collect and map data on wildlife crime hotspots.
Federated database
Experts call for a federated database to record and analyse crimes. A. Shankar Prakash, an independent conservation criminology researcher, said it was important for the WCCB to have officials trained in investigating crimes. A centralised database for recording and analysing wildlife crimes and a system for different agencies such as the Customs, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, and police to exchange information is crucial, he said.
