New Delhi: Trading in hair of all species of the mongoose will be illegal from today.The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, had upgraded all species of genus Herpestes (mongooses) to Part II of Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, by a notification published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, on October 11, 2002. Earlier, mongooses were in Schedule IV of the Act which accorded limited protection to the species.

Ms Urvashi Dogra, Campaigns Manager, Wildlife Trust of India, said, “When an animal is given protection under the Wildlife Protection Act, a time period of a maximun 60 days is granted to people to delcare articles made from the any part or derivative of the species.” The sixty-day-period ended yesterday. The penalty for violation of the law with regard to species included in Part II of Schedule II is the same as that for Schedule I. The punishment is imprisonment for a term not less than one year but can extend to six years or seven years if the charge is illegal trade.

It was known for many years that the hair of mongooses were in a bloody trade – the hair was being used to manufacture paintbrushes. It was 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 Wildlife Trust of India (WTI).

According to Mr Ashok Kumar, Senior Advisor and Trustee of WTI, “It was well-known that trade in mongoose hair was large and widespread, and that it had political backing (at least one Delhi politician’s name was known). It was also known that there were more than 10 mongoose hair brushmakers in Delhi alone and also in neighbouring Haryana as well as Noida, apart from a large number of them in Sherkote and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. Much of this trade was illegal though some Delhi manufacturers had old licences going back 19 years and claimed to have survived on the stock of hair they had declared 19 years ago.”

The trade was documented, the centres of trade and manufacturing were located, and footage of the trade was recorded. 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 where the haul was equivalent to 50,000 dead mongooses.

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 wildlifers.

The Union Ministry of Enviornment and Forests acted swiftly this time and upgraded the species from Schedule IV of the Wildlife Protection Act to Part II of Schedule II of the Act. The October 11, 2002 notification accorded the species a much higher level of protection and penalty for violation equal to that of a Schedule I species.

Manufacturers of mongoose paint brushes and shaving brushes cried foul and filed a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging the notification. They also prayed for quashing Section 61 of the Wildlife Protection Act by which the power to change scedules were given by the Parliament of India to the Government of India.

The petition alleged that the power to issue such a notification has been exercised by an officer (Additional Director General Wildlife) who is not empowered to issue such a notification. Other violations of the Indian Constitution were pointed out. The Court issued a notice to the Union Government asking them to explain if the officer who signed the notification was empowered to do so. The date of hearing was initially fixed for December 10 but was postponed to December 17. WTI has filed an intervention petition in the case praying for an opportunity to be heard.