Trade in Tokay geckos continues in Bengal

Trade in Tokay geckos continues in Bengal

News:

1. Border Security Force have reported the smuggling of three Tokay geckos from West Bengal’s Malda and Murshidabad districts.

Important facts:

2. About Tokay geckos

• Tokay gecko is a lizard species with orange-spotted blue-grey skin.
• It is protected under the Schedule III of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act.
• Tokay geckos are one of the largest geckos alive today which can grow up to 14 inches in length.
• Tokay geckos are insectivorous, and eat pests such as cockroaches.
• Tokay geckos communicate vocally to find members of the opposite sex during the breeding season.
• Tokay geckos are found from northeast India to the Indo-Australian Archipelago and tropical rain forests.

3. The Siliguri Frontier of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in north Bengal seized 24 tokay geckos between November 2017 and April 2018.
4. The Expert from wildlife have raised the concern arguing that:

• The seizures at border checkpoints would yield no results unless there was some intervention at the forests and habitats from where the animal was seized.
• Smugglers raised false hype about the medicinal value of these wildlife species to create a demand for them both within and outside India.

5. Wildlife Crime Control Bureau said the high rate of smuggling of Tokay geckos have led them to bring under the Schedule III of wildlife protection Act.
6. Tokay geckos which is above 13 cm in length and over 350 grams in weight fetch exorbitantly high prices in China and parts of South Asia.
7. May 22 is observed as International Day for Biological Diversity.