Table of Contents
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
- The Gujarat Forest Department has started evacuating muggers(crocodile) from two ponds on the Sardar Sarovar Dam premises on the Narmada, to facilitate a seaplane service at the Statue of Unity.
15 OUT, 485 MORE TO GO
- Relocating almost 500 mugger crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris) away from two ponds
REASONS?
- The Gujarat government is concerned about the fate of tourists at its newest tourist attraction, the Statue of Unity.
THE PROBLEM
- The muggers’ removal, while couched in concern for tourists, is a problem in many ways. First, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, says only those animals that present a proven danger to humans can be moved. Crocodiles are protected under Schedule I of the Act, its highest provision.
Argument of environmentalists
- However, the hundreds of crocodiles in question have not proved to be a danger to human life yet. They only present a potential danger but the Act does not cognise that. This is like locking up all king cobras in a state because they can bite and kill people but haven’t yet.
ANIMAL RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS ARE NOT IMPRESSED
CAN THE DECISION BE DANGEROUS?
- There is also the attendant issue of crocodile homing behaviour, not much of which is known about in India. In Australia, a saltwater crocodile had been moved 400 km away from its original habitat, and it made its way back in 20 days.
- Further, we do know that the Indian muggers are territorial animals. They will fight with other crocodiles, including any residents, especially when put in one place.
NARMADA CROCODILE
- The mugger crocodile, also called marsh crocodile or broadsnouted crocodile, is a species (Crocodylus palustris) native to freshwater habitats from southern Iran and Pakistan to the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka.
- Already extinct in Bhutan and Myanmar, the mugger has been listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1982.
- In India, it is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
- Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland
DON’T CONFUSE NARMADA CROCODILE WITH GHARIAL
- The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), also known as the gavial, and fish-eating crocodile is a crocodilian in the family Gavialidae, and is native to the northern part of the Indian subcontinent.
- It is listed as a Critically Endangered by IUCN.
WHERE IS GHARIAL FOUND?
- Gharials are endemic to the Indian sub-continent. Once found abundantly in all the major river systems of South Asia, the Gharial is now extinct in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma and Bhutan. Nepal has only a remnant breeding population. In India too, the major breeding populations are confined to two rivers only, Girwa and the Chambal. The two rivers run along the borders of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
- A few non-breeding populations exist in small pockets in other rivers in India.
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