Snapdeal, IndiaMart And Others Found Selling Wildlife Products Online
Superstitious beliefs creates a ready market for such products.
The Madhya Pradesh Tiger Strike Force sent out notices to some of the big e-commerce firms in the country. These portals are reportedly found to be selling prohibited wildlife products online.
Interestingly, Snapdeal is one of the accused e-commerce firms, among others. The list includes Wish and Buy, IndiaMart and Craft Comparison.
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What The Report Says
As per the report, notices were served to these e-commerce firms last week. The news broke, after the names of these e-commerce websites surfaced in an investigation related to a raid. The investigation pertained to a seizure of some prohibited wildlife items in Indore.
The Investigation
As to the investigation, it was the Madhya Pradesh Tiger Strike Force, which has served notices to Snapdeal, Wish and Buy, IndiaMART and Craft Comparison for selling some wildlife-related items online through their portals. In the notice, the companies have been told to remove all such items and content from their portals and submit a clarification as to why an action should not be taken against them.
A Raid Revealed The Online Sales
There were several items made out of animals, animal skin and animal limbs. These items were confiscated when a raid was underway at a company called, Shubh Bhakti in Indore last month. The owners have been arrested under the Wildlife Protection Act. The owners of the company confessed to have sold wildlife items, both offline and online.
The accused have admitted to selling wildlife items through online marketplaces like Snapdeal, Wish and Buy, IndiaMART and Craft Comparison. The company is also registered with Flipkart, Craftsvilla and Amazon and has several religious products listed for sale as well.
Illegal Trade Of Wildlife Products Online
There have been such instances in the past, and India has witnessed such cases of online illegal sale of wildlife and products related to it before. There are several PETA petition listings are out there, urging portals like OLX and Quikr to stop the sale of animals online. Just a month ago, a priest of a temple from Madhya Pradesh was arrested for illegally selling animal parts online.
Wildlife Superstitious Items
India has witnessed a big leap in technological advancements and other areas. But, there is still a large portion of the population who harbour superstitious beliefs that procuring and using such rare wildlife items will change their fortune. This creates a ready market for such illegal items.
Check on E-commerce Websites
Last year, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) listed about 106 websites, which allegedly were trading animals and their parts online. The list included some big names like Snapdeal, Quikr, Olx, Ebay, Amazon and Alibaba. With the recent reports of the selling of wildlife items online, it is imperative on the part of these online portals to put in a strict check in their place to ensure no such items are listed on their platforms respectively.
