WWF-India and TRAFFIC step up campaign to prevent trade of monitor lizard

Rattled by the trade of medicines made using monitor lizard in the country, TRAFFIC, an NGO working on the trade of wildlife, and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-India) have stepped up their campaign, requesting people protect the species.

Monitor lizards (Varanus) are illegally targeted for their copulatory organs (hemipenes) that is structurally similar to “hatha jodi" or the root of the Tiger's Claw (Martynia annua), a plant with diverse traditional uses in Ayurveda. As a consequence, the reproductive organs of monitor lizards are often disguised as the plant and traded illegally.

All four species of monitor lizards in India are protected under India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and listed under Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), an international agreement between governments. This includes the Bengal Monitor (Varanus bengalensis), Asian Water Monitor (Varanus salvator), Yellow Monitor (Varanus flavescens), and Desert Monitor (Varanus griseus).

Monitor lizards are also extensively poached for meat which is considered a delicacy and also believed to have medicinal properties.

To highlight this threat to monitor lizards from illegal wildlife trade, TRAFFIC’s India Office with support from WWF-India, is raising awareness about the exploitation of monitor lizards. The key message of the online campaign is “Buying is Stealing” which warns people against buying medicinal products made from monitor lizards, among other protected wildlife species.

“The demand for Hatha Jodi is one of the major drivers of poaching and illegal trade of monitor lizards in India today,” said Dr Saket Badola, Head of TRAFFIC’s India office.

“There is evidence that populations of the Bengal Monitor, Common Water Monitor and Yellow Monitor are being impacted as a result, so it is therefore crucial that people understand the gravity of threat posed by illegal wildlife trade," he said in a press release.

Monitor lizards are essential to agricultural and forest ecosystems as they feast on insects, rodents, bird eggs, snakes, fish, and crabs, thereby regulating their population. In some regions, they are also a source of food for other predators. Monitor lizards are keen scavengers and play a significant role in biomass decomposition and recycling. They clear carrion and help in controlling the spread of disease.

Monitor lizards are also threatened by large-scale habitat degradation due to urbanisation and rapid expansion of agricultural lands, pollution, overfishing, and infringement of forests and water bodies. Human-wildlife conflicts and retaliatory killings also pose a direct threat to the survival of monitor lizard species