As part of the #Trappedintrade campaign outreach, WCT collaborated with Xavier’s Zoology Association (XAC), St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, to deliver a seminar on the exotic pet trade crisis in India. This event was designed to introduce students to the compelling facts about the trade in exotic wild animals as pets in India. Dr. Anish Andheria, President, WCT, delivered the talk to an audience of over 70 people, comprising students, faculty members, and a few outsiders. He spoke about the myriad issues of cruelty, illegality, and organised crime that are part of this trade. Using case studies from around the world, he shed light on the impact of such trade on climate, biodiversity, and ecosystems, and the issues faced by enforcement agencies to combat it. He also talked to them about the legally safe ways in which students can themselves take action to help curb this trade from spreading further.
The talk was followed by a very interactive ‘Q&A’ session with students seeking to better understand more aspects of the illegal pet trade and the roadblocks to its control. In the coming years, WCT aims to work with the team at XAC and the faculty of Department of Zoology, St. Xavier’s College to grow this programme to a larger scale and to offer meaningful internships for interested students as well as to design small-scale, yet innovative solutions to this pressing, global issue.