DIMAPUR: Around 40 enforcement officials from the Forest Department, Police Department, Excise & Prohibition Department, CISF, CRPF (173 & 78 Battalions), 15 Assam Rifles, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Airport Authority and Railway Protection Force participated in a one day workshop on Wildlife Article Identification in Dimapur. The programme aimed to strengthen the capacity of enforcement agencies to identify commonly traded wildlife and wildlife articles, and to detect illegal wildlife trade.
The workshop was organised by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) in collaboration with the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and the Department of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of Nagaland, with support from the Wildlife Division, Dimapur and the Wildlife Conservation Network’s Pangolin Crisis Fund.
Inaugurating the workshop, Wildlife Warden, Dimapur, Dr. C. Zupeni Tsanglai emphasised the importance of inter agency collaboration in combating illegal wildlife trade in Nagaland. She highlighted the need for intelligence sharing and coordinated enforcement operations, stressing that such capacity building programmes were crucial for strengthening collective response to wildlife crime.
Tsanglai asserted that illegal wildlife trade could not be effectively addressed by a single agency, and underscored the importance of training programmes as platforms for agencies to understand each other’s roles and enhance cooperation.
Sessions were delivered by experts from WTI and WCCB. Monesh Singh Tomar, Assistant Manager and Officer in Charge, Wildlife Crime Control Division, WTI, briefed participants on the overview of wildlife crime and the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Nippon Baisnab, Assistant Director, WCCB Eastern Region, Guwahati, conducted a session on identification of commonly traded wildlife articles, while Robin Borah, Head Constable, WCCB Eastern Region, assisted in demonstrating original wildlife articles, providing participants with hands on experience in identifying specimens and derivatives.
