Page 81 - DRI ANNUAL REPORT EBOOK

India as a demand centre: Exotics
There is an unfortunate and increasing trend in smuggling of endangered and exotic fauna from different parts of the world into India. Most of these land up as exotic pets. The exotic pet trade in India has grown with the main demand being for birds, tortoises. Birds belonging to the parrot family including Macaws and Cockatoos are particularly vulnerable. Since there is a complete ban on trade in Indian species, interest of the smugglers has shifted to exotic species, which has led to disastrous global environmental consequences.
There has been a growing interest in sale of exotic species of birds in India. Most of these exotic birds are imported through Illegal channels and then sold in the domestic marked as pets. The long international border and air routes are used to source consignments from Bangkok, Malaysia and other top tourist destinations in South East Asia, as well as from Europe from where they are sent to major cities i.e. Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Cochin, etc..
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