Registration of Exotic Pets-PARIVESH 2.0 Portal

About Exotic Species:

• Definition: Exotic species refer to animals or plants that are moved from their natural habitat to a new location, often due to human activities.
• Criteria: According to the Living Animal Species (Reporting and Registration) Rules, 2024, any individual possessing species listed under Schedule IV of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, must report and register them.
• Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022: It mandates the registration of the possession, transfer, birth, and death of species listed in the CITES Appendices and Schedule IV of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
• Concerns with Exotic Species:
  • Non-regulation: Many exotic species are imported and bred in India without proper registration, posing risks such as zoonotic diseases.
  • Pandemic risk: The unregulated trade and ownership of exotic animals poses a threat of pandemic.
  • Smuggling concerns: Activists have raised alarms over the increasing smuggling of endangered exotic animals into India, especially from Southeast Asia. Significant seizures have been reported in Assam and Mizoram, with animals like Kangaroos, Koalas, and Lemurs being confiscated.

About the PARIVESH 2.0 Portal:

• PARIVESH 2.0 (Pro-Active and Responsive facilitation by Interactive, Virtuous, and Environmental Single Window Hub) is a web-based workflow application developed by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) for the online submission and monitoring of proposals related to environmental, forest, wildlife, and coastal regulation zone clearances.
• Many living specimens of exotic animal species listed in Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 are in possession of various individuals, organizations and zoos. These living specimens of exotic animals listed under Schedule IV of the Act are to be reported and registered by the concerned individuals, organizations and zoos. The registration of these exotic animal species is to be done in the PARIVESH 2.0 portal.