Monitor Lizard Meat Legal in India

India`s monitor lizard population is in steady decline due to poaching. Consumption of monitor lizard meat is widespread in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Africa. Reports of reptiles hunted for their meat are common in India, although it is illegal. In 2016, an Indian forest official was arrested after serving monitor lizard meat at a party. Monitor lizards are also hunted for traditional medicine. The monitor lizard (Varanus bengalensis) is a protected species under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. As predators, they play an important role in the ecosystem and their mass hunting in the southern states of India has a detrimental effect on the food chain. These animals are hunted because of the widespread misconception that eating flesh gives these lizards superhuman powers. Drinking the blood of these lizards is also believed to act as an aphrodisiac – again, this claim is not supported by scientific evidence.

These lizards are hunted en masse, especially in parts of Tamil Nadu, and sold across the border in Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Local tribes, such as the Hakki-Pikki, are largely engaged in this trade. Shaken by the trade in medicines made with monitor lizards in the country, TRAFFIC, an NGO involved in the wildlife trade, and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF-India) have stepped up their campaign, calling on people to protect the species. Poachers regularly bring these lizards (called «Udumu» in local parlance) without realizing the punishment for breaking the law. Their hunting is subject to the provisions of Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, as is tiger hunting. Nevertheless, poachers catch and immobilize monitor lizards by breaking limbs or even their backs. Your blood is consumed with rum; their fat is converted into ghee, which is consumed for starch; their meat is in demand for the so-called medicinal benefits; And their skin comes at a high price. «There is evidence that the populations of the Bengal Monitor, Common Water Monitor and Yellow Monitor are affected by this, so it is important that people understand the seriousness of the threat posed by illegal wildlife trade,» he said in a press release. The website Walk Through India has ranked the Bengal monitor lizard (Varanus bengalensis) as one of the five most traded animals in India. They note that these extremely large reptiles, which have spread across the Indian subcontinent, are rapidly disappearing due to poaching and illegal wildlife trade.

Indian monitor lizard is used with spiny-tailed lizards for meat, belly skin leather and oil. Monitor lizards are killed for their meat and other products for various applications, such as monitor lizard (extracted by cooking) is used by the rural population to cure various diseases. Although illegal, the skin of monitor lizards was used in the production of fashion accessories. And the ghumot, a terracotta pot covered with the skin of the monitor lizard, is used as a drum in Goa. Wildlife officials probably also overlook the use of udumbu, another type of large lizard whose skin is stretched on one side of the wooden frame of the kanjira/kanjari percussion instrument used for Carnatic and folk music. Reptiles such as snakes, crocodiles, monitor lizards, etc. sneak into the meadows and constantly emerge in open fields and increasingly find themselves in dangerous situations. The panic that arises when she discovers one of these reptiles leads to the unfortunate incident of retaliatory killings without people realizing that the species they may have injured or beaten to death is protected by law. The Wildlife Protection Act 1972 is the country`s law that regulates and protects all wildlife in India – from the smallest bird to the largest mammal and everything in between. «Hatha Jodi`s demand is now one of the main drivers of poaching and illegal trade in monitor lizards in India,» said Dr Saket Badola, Head of TRAFFIC`s India Office. Hunting crocodiles and gharials on flesh and skin and injuring, harassing or mutilating them carries a direct fine of Rs 25,000 or imprisonment of up to 7 years. Monitor lizards are also threatened by large-scale habitat degradation due to urbanization and rapid expansion of agricultural land, pollution, overfishing, and damage to forests and water.

Human-wildlife conflicts and retaliatory killings also pose a direct threat to the survival of monitor lizard species Monitor lizards are exchanged for their penises, which, when dried, resemble a pair of joined hands (hatha jodi). They are usually sold as the dried root of a sacred plant found in sacred places. The tantriks sell them to superstitious people across the country and abroad with various rituals that must be performed in the days leading up to Deepavali. Mantras are spoken 1100 times before the Hatha Jodi is burned so that wishes come true and happiness bless the house. None of the vendors at the fish market are willing to talk about the price tag, but we learn that a monitor lizard costs nearly 1,000 rupees. Monitor lizards (Varanus) are attacked illegally for their copulation organs (hemipene), which structurally resemble «hatha jodi» or tiger`s claw root (Martynia annua), a plant with a variety of traditional uses in Ayurveda. As a result, the reproductive organs of monitor lizards are often disguised as plants and traded illegally. Indian forest authorities are investigating four men who raped, killed, cooked and ate a monitor lizard in one of India`s best-protected forest reserves. It was the only monitor lizard in the park. None of the departments concerned — the municipality, the forest and the police — have taken note, although the sale of monitor lizards is widespread. People believe that the meat of these lizards has medicinal value, especially in the treatment of hip and back pain. There is also a myth that eating meat increases sexual urges! Not surprisingly, some conservationists (who consider wildlife more valuable than pets) have suggested that for ghummot, monitor skin should be replaced with goat skin.

The Biological Weapons Convention strongly condemns this proposal, because our organization has the same respect and compassion for both species. Bengal monitor lizard (Varanus bengalensis). Aditya «Dicky» Singh/Alamy monitor lizards are critically endangered and have been listed on Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Act. Hunting the animal is punishable by law and warrants a prison sentence of up to 7 years, Angre said. In September 2011, FIAPO contacted BWC for advice on stopping advertising in publications such as Vogue and selling animal products, from fur and feathers to python skins. This reminded the Biological Weapons Convention to once again alert the Ministry of Environment and Forests to wildlife species such as snakes, pythons, crocodiles, monitor lizards and feathers and skins of endangered species imported into India. (These real wild animal skins should not be confused with imported imitations of similar appearance.) They come as finished products, consisting of shoes and handbags that cost lakhs of rupees, to look at expensive wristwatch straps, even mobile cases. Advertisements and branded advertisements are aimed at Indians who are looking for such poorly designed status symbols.

In fact, these branded products are brazenly advertised in high-society magazines like Vogue, Hello, and sometimes unexpected like Businessworld. Often, the «price available on request» and an order must be placed, after which the item is imported for the buyer. The products are therefore not displayed in their points of sale, so government raids would not bring the expected results. It was also pointed out that the government should not be under the impression that this does not concern India because the skins are not of Indian origin. Imports must be restricted and not neglected, as these imported products lead to more poaching. The Biological Weapons Convention believes that just as the CITES ban on trade in ivory from Indian and African elephants can be implemented, trade in other wildlife skins can be stopped, and not just on paper. The Biological Weapons Convention has therefore called on the government to warn the media against advertising and import, to recognize customs authorities and to take action against importers of these illegal items. We look forward to positive steps and responses from the government.