NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has announced August 28 as the last date to declare any possession of exotic wild species listed under Schedule IV of the Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972. People possessing exotic wild species are required to submit an application electronically through the PARIVESH 2.0 portal to the Chief Wildlife Warden of the concerned state.The MoEFCC had notified the ‘Living Animal Species (Reporting and Registration) Rules, 2024’ under Section 49 M vide gazette notification dated 28th February 2024 to regulate and check on the keeping and breeding of highly endangered exotic wild animals. India lacked such regulations before it. The issue came to limelight across the globe when the pandemic broke out and it was assumed that Covid-19 was a ‘zoonotic disease’ that spilt over from China’s Wuhan wet market. In its fresh order, the government has urged all the concerned persons to take expeditious action to report such possessions.The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 came into force on 1st April 2023. Section 49 M of the Act provides for the registration of possession, transfer, birth and death of living scheduled animal species listed in the Appendices of CITES and in Schedule IV of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. In April 2023, the government came up with a legal framework notification. The framework made it compulsory for exotic wild animal keepers to get a separate mandatory license to possess and breed exotic animals in captivity belonging to Appendix I of Schedule IV.After the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020, India issued an advisory on June 11, 2020, granting amnesty to individuals possessing exotic live species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), a multilateral treaty of 183 countries, ratified by India in 1976.
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