Newsminute.com. by Monalisa Das, 6/20/17
Go to http://bit.ly/2rNCeOl for photos of these “roots”
A
group of scientists and investigators from India and the UK have found
that Monitor Lizard Hemipenis or the male sexual organs of monitor
lizards are being sold online as Hatha Jodi, a tantric root that is
believed to bring wealth and happiness.
Unsuspecting
customers, mostly from the Asian diaspora, have been buying lizard
genitalia that resemble a root, via major online retailers such as
Amazon, Alibab and Ebay, World Animal Protection (WAP) said in a
statement.
WAP has been reaching out to the e-commerce markets requesting them to take down the products from their sites.
"We
were shocked at the sheer audacity and scale of this illegal wildlife
trade. Deceitful dealers claiming to sell holy plant root labelled as
'atha Jodi', are in fact peddling dried lizard penis to their unwitting
customers. These illegal items are readily available in the UK and USA
with potential street value of £50,000 GBP (Great Britain pound)',"
Gajender K Sharma, India Country Director at WAP, said.
The
animal welfare organisation stated that these lizards are illegally
poached from forests and killed cruelly before their genitals are
removed for use as "Hatha Jodi". At times, the animals are even alive
when the process of removing their organs begin.
The
Hatha Jodi, often considered holy, is a rare plant species found in
remote areas of Nepal and Central India, and used in traditional
practices.
Tests
carried out in labs in Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) have
found evidence that suggest customers are being duped in the name of
Hatha Jodi root.
Dr
David Megson of the MMU said, "Given the photos being advertised
online, we needed to get into the laboratory to confirm our suspicions
that that these dried 'plant roots' were in fact derived from Indian
monitor lizards. However, the plot thickened even further when tests
revealed that some of these items are actually plastic mouldings of
monitor lizard genitalia.”
All
monitor lizards fall under Schedule I and any trade involving the
reptile or its body parts is a national offence under the Indian
Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Both the Bengal and Yellow Monitor
lizards are also listed under Appendix I of the Convention on the
International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) -
the highest level of international legal protection that can be afforded
and that prohibits commercial trade.
There
are over 70 species of monitor lizards around the world and four of
them are specifically found in India namely Bengal Monitor, Water
Monitor, Yellow Monitor and Desert Monitor lizards.
"Most
of the monitor lizards have been extensively exploited for a long
period of time for their skin and meat and by those who want to keep
them as pets. Now what we are getting to see is that after poachers sell
the skin and flesh of the reptiles, they have started selling the rest
of the body parts of the animal. This is worrisome.Their population is
already dwindling due to habitat loss" explained Anirban Chaudhuri, a
herpetologist from Kolkata.
In
a recent raid carried out by enforcement agencies in Bhubaneswar, 210
Hatha Jodi, including hemipenis from Bengal and Yellow Monitor Lizards,
were seized. Similar raids also took place in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The price of these depends on the size and can range between Rs 400 and Rs 4,000.
This
species of lizard are sought after by poachers for their tough skin
that is used to make products such as bags, drums, etc. Another species
found in the desert regions of India - Pine Tail Lizards - are also used
for making traditional medicines.
Chaudhuri
added that while the practice is not new, the magnitude of the illegal
activity has increased substantially. There's a demand, specially in
South East Asian countries, and poachers are making use of technology to
fulfill it.
"Poachers are now more organised. They use social media to carry out their
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