25KG OF MONGOOSE HAIR AND PAINTBRUSHES SEIZED FROM GURGAON FACTORY

New Delhi, January 29, 2003: About 25 kg of mongoose hair and mongoose hair paintbrushes were seized from an illegal factory in adjacent Gurgaon here today. According to sources, the factory belonged to one Prabhu Dayal Chawla in the Pataudi Road area of Gurgaon. Chawla and four of his laboureres were arrested. Since Chawla refused to divilge the name of the supplier of mongoose hair, he was remanded to police custody for interrogation.

This is the first major seizure of mongoose parts and derivatives from the National Capital Region since the mongoose was upgraded to Part II of Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The penalty entails minimum one year imprisonment (up to a maximum of seven years) and a fine of Rs 5,000.

In defence Chawla said that he was unaware that making paintbrushes from mongoose hair was a violation of law. His argument was refuted by the information given by Wildlife Trust of India that a number of mongoose hair brush manufacturers have filed a petition in the High Court of Delhi asking for quashing the gazette notification by which mongoose species were given a higher degree of protection. WTI has filed an intervention petition in this court case.

According to Mr Ashok Kumar, Senior Trustee and Advisor, Wildlife Trust of India, almost 2,000 mongooses could have been slaughtered for the quantity of hair and painbrushes that were seized. Each animal yields about 20 grams of usable hair after the raw material is cleaned and graded for making brushes. The animals are trapped and then bashed to death or stunned. The hair is then plucked by hand, sometimes when the animal is still alive, and packed in gunny bags and sent to production centres.

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). Subsequently, a seizure of mongoose hair and brushes which would have resulted in the death of nearly 50,000 mongooses took place in varous parts of North India on June 8, 2002 by wildlife and police authorities. WTI assisted in the seizures.

Wildlife officials and the police had conducted the raids on manufacturers of mongoose hair brushes in Moarabad and Sherkote in Uttar Pradesh, besides Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. The raids yielded over 1,000kg of mongoose hair illegally used by some of the best-known producers of painbrushes brushes in the country, including Weldon Company. These brushes were also being exported.

At that point of time, the mongoose was listed in Schedule IV of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and therefore the offence could be compounded by payment of an amount to be determined by wildlife officials. Since December 11, 2002, all mongoose species have been placed in Part II of Schedule II which enhances the penalty to a minimum imprisonment of one year and a fine of rupees five thousand.