Dehradun: Forest and police officials raided a clandestine mongoose hair brush making factory at Vikas Nagar near Dehradun, in the northern Indian Uttaranchal state. The owner of the factory was arrested and 425 finished mongoose hair brushes were seized. The seizure was assisted by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI).It was known for many years that mongoose hair was being used to make the cheapest available painting brushes in the market, used primarily by schoolchildren. It was, however, not documented how widespread the trade was, or what was the impact on the species. In April 2002, a study into the trade was initiated by filmmaker Syed Fayaz and the Wildlife Trust of India.

The trade was documented, the centres of trade and manufacturing were located, and footage was recorded. The footage, made into a short documentary titled “A Brush with Death”, was shown to officials of Ministry of Environment and Forests, the media, and the public. Following this WTI launched a campaign among schoolchildren asking them not to buy these brushes.

Wildlife authorities were alerted and there were simultaneous raids in New Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, Kolkata, and two important locations in Uttar Pradesh – Moradabad and Sherkote.The biggest seizure, assisted by WTI, took place at Moradabad in June 2002, where the haul was equivalent to 50,000 dead mongooses. The government responded promptly by upgrading the mongoose species, which enjoyed little protection under Schedule IV of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, to the Part II of Schedule II in October 2002.

Subsequently, residual trade and manufacturing was discovered at a number of places. The Sherkote seizure of December 2003 further closed down the manufacturing but some of the parties shifted to smaller towns. Since then, the field investigation team of WTI has been looking at the smaller towns of Western Uttar Pradesh and assisting in seizures at these small units. This is the sixth such seizure. Other locations are being researched with the intention to completely close down the Mongoose hair brush trade in the foreseeable future.