14 DAY TRIAL // Not long after the Indian state of Maharashtra had made it legal for wildlife rangers to shoot poachers, Russia announced that it intended to fight against the illegal wildlife trade by rolling out harsher penalties for those found guilty of smuggling endangered species.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says that, according to the new rules and regulations Russia means to impose, people caught killing or smuggling animals belonging to endangered species risk being prosecuted under criminal law.
Up until now, criminal investigations were only carried out when the rare animals seized from smugglers were estimated to be worth at least $30,000 (€22,856).
Given the fact that authorities have almost no way of knowing just how much money a smuggler would have made by selling these animals, it often happened that traffickers were let off the hook after being made to pay rather insignificant fines.
When asked to comment on the State Duma's decision to approve these legislative amendments, the current CEO of WWF Russia, Dr. Igor Chestin, said that, “The new bill establishes a mechanism to close the existing loophole in Russian legislation.”
“Now, regardless of the value or volume of the goods, any smuggler caught with parts of a tiger or other valuable species will be prosecuted under criminal law and potentially face far more serious consequences,” he further detailed on the issue.
It appears that both the WWF and several other green-oriented groups have been trying for more than a decade to convince high officials in Russia that implementing such measures was the right thing to do.
Thus, it was back in August 2012 when Dr. Igor Chestin met with President Vladimir Putin and asked that the country start better looking after its biodiversity.
Conservationist Alexey Vaisman wished to stress the fact that, as good as this new legislation looks on paper, it is worth nothing unless Russian authorities do their best to also enforce it.
“While this latest improvement to Russian legislation is warmly welcomed, its enforcement becomes of utmost importance,” he stated.
Some of the species Russia wishes to protect against poachers and traffickers are the Amur tiger, the Amur leopard, the snow leopard and the polar bear.