Animal News (Except Bigcats)

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Sloth bear poaching for aphrodisiacs: Madhya Pradesh constitutes SIT

Madhya Pradesh forest department has constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the role of a global syndicate behind poaching of male sloth bears for sourcing their reproductive organs and gall bladders, which are key ingredients of aphrodisiacs. These organs fetch a high price in international and domestic market. 

Forest officials were alarmed to find reproductive organs and claws 'skilfully' chopped from carcasses recovered from different parts of the state, indicating involvement of professionals. Two bear carcasses were found near buffer zone of Kanha Tiger Reserve in West Mandla district while others were recovered from Chhindwara, Betul and Burhanpur districts. 

State's chief wildlife warden Narendra Kumar said five different officers have has been assigned to investigate each case. "Sloth bears are equally threatened species. We have got fresh clues about a gang involved in poaching. Different teams are working on it," he Narendra Kumar told TOI. 

Assistant conservator of forest (ACF) Ritesh Sirothia will lead SIT, said sources. Reportedly, two poachers have been detained by SIT in connection with sloth bear killed in Chhindwara region. "Efforts are on to crack the poaching network," Sirothia said. 

Sloth bears (Melursus ursinus), a Schedule I species under the Wildlife Protection Act of India is a vulnerable species in the IUCN Red list. It is among four of Asia's five bear species banned from international commercial trade under Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). 

Besides use as sex stimulants, medical applications of reproductive organs of these animals include treatment of cancers, burns, pain, asthma, sinusitis and as tonic to prevent liver damage. Bears are the only mammals to produce significant amounts of the bile acid, tauro ursodeoxycholic (UDCA). It has a high demand in countries like China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, the Republic of South Korea and Taiwan. 

"It is bile within gall bladder, which exceeds even the cost of narcotics and hence the high demand," said a forest official. 

Bears were never on priority list of officers in Madhya Pradesh who focused largely on tigers till 2011," said a wildlife activist. In 2012, forest officials recommended state government to allow CBI to inquire into poaching of two 'sloth bears' from Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) along with investigations into missing tigers. Forest department has shortlisted five cases, which they consider, were suitable for CBI.


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