The case of the counterfeit tiger skins

How policemen, unable to identify fake animal products, arrest traders under the Wildlife Protection Act

Earlier this week, policemen from Thane arrested two individuals in possession of a tiger’s skin. The police held a press conference where they told reporters that the tiger skin, apparently brought from Nasik, was worth Rs 7 lakh in the Indian market and at least Rs 20 lakh in the international market. This was the third instance in the last two months of people being nabbed in possession of tiger skins near Mumbai. The police charged all of them under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

But it now turns out that in all three cases, the tiger skins were counterfeits. In the case of the alleged tiger skin found earlier this week, a dog’s skin had been worked on to make it look like a tiger’s skin. According to the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), a major issue concerning wildlife protection is the misuse of the Wildlife Protection Act by law enforcement agencies. The reason: policemen, and even forest department officials, are unable to tell a genuine wildlife product from a fake. Says a WCCB official, requesting anonymity, “The market of counterfeits in wildlife products is huge in India… So, in every 10 cases of the Act being invoked, only one will turn out to involve a genuine wildlife product.”

The WCCB has issued a nationwide notification objecting to the invocation of the Wildlife Protection Act in cases of trading and possession of counterfeit animal products. Adi Malaliah, an inspector with the WCCB’s Western Regional office in Mumbai, says, “These people try to sell a counterfeit tiger skin as a genuine one. But after their arrest when they inform the police about the skins being fake, the cops charge them under the Act and produce them in court. The truth only comes out when we are brought in to identify the skins. We will be providing tips to cops to help them distinguish real tiger skins from fake ones.”

Fake animal productsTiger skinWildlife Protection Act