NEW DELHI, JANUARY 28: India should take the lead in saving tigers from near extinction, a UN team of experts said here on Friday and urged the Government to expedite setting up a National Wildlife Crime Prevention Unit for the purpose."I am optimistic and confident about the future of tigers and the process of its preservation. But India has to lead that process," Robert Hepworth, chairman, standing committee of the UN Convention on International Trade in Engineered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), told reporters here.Hepworth along with CITES secretary general Willem Wijnstekers and Tiger Mission leader John Sellar, who visited several tiger ranges including Panna tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, said senior officials of the environment and forest department had given them a "positive response" on setting up a wildlife crime prevention unit."No time frame has been set up. But we hope that the unit comes up this year. may be within months," Hepworth said.John Sellar expressed concern that the traders of tiger skin and other body parts were gradually shifting their attention to other big cats like leopards.Stressing on the need for improved intelligence network to check poaching, Sellar said, "If one wishes to tackle organised crime against wildlife in general and tigers in particular then you must deploy appropriate resources to gather intelligence and evidence to bring poachers and dealers to justice".Sharing Sellar's opinions, Hepworth expressed concern over lack of modern intelligence gathering network and equipment on crime against wildlife saying this was a major hurdle "for the dedicated men in the field".Expressing concern over continuous seizures of animal parts and more recently in Ghaziabad, he said, "The raids that produced such a haul illustrate both the problem and what can be achieved by enforcement authorities."The tiger is now critically endangered and cannot sustain this level of poaching and illicit trade. The leopard, too, is at severe risk," he said.
