Environment and Disaster Management › Biodiversity governance

Human wildlife conflict and wildlife crime

Conflict between people and wild animals, compensation for the loss, and wildlife crime: poaching, seizures and the trade in live animals and their parts. Prelims has asked which of a set of animals, the star tortoise among them, are found naturally in India.

Foundation note: Human wildlife conflict: what the Act allows, who pays, and the crime bureau

UPSC has asked

Prelims 2013: species found naturally in India, including the star tortoise

Showing 1 of 3 articles, those that changed from 1 to 30 June 2026.Show all

Wildlife crime

Turtle trafficking by rail

Prelims and Mains

Turtle trafficking by rail moves Indian softshell and flapshell turtles, Schedule I species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, from the Ganga and its tributaries in Uttar Pradesh in passenger luggage, with Madhya Pradesh as a transit corridor.

Softshells go east and through Bangladesh for traditional medicine, while roofed turtles and star tortoises feed the pet trade.
The Critically Endangered Batagur of the Chambal goes to Southeast Asian pet markets.

What changed

28 Jun 2026BriefMadhya Pradesh police analysed six years of seizures before their first coordinated crackdown on rail trafficking: 654 animals recovered from trains between 2020 and 2026, 647 of them turtles. The Indian Express, 28 Jun 2026: Express Special | Inside the railway network moving India's protected turtles (opens in a new tab)

Also filed elsewhere

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