SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir reported a total of 13 cases of organised wildlife crime between 2021 and 2025, according to data provided by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The figures were presented by Kirti Vardhan Singh, Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in response to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1189, which was raised by Member of Parliament Shri Anto Antony and answered on July 27, 2026.
According to Annexure-I of the reply, the Union Territory recorded two wildlife crime cases in 2021 and one case in 2022. No cases were reported to the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Information was available with The Chenab Times indicating a separate set of figures in Annexure-II. This annexure revealed that the Forest Department in Jammu and Kashmir reported 10 wildlife crime cases in 2021. Similar to the WCCB data, no cases were reported by the Forest Department in the subsequent four years covered by this data set.
Collectively, these two annexures suggest a sharp decline in reported wildlife crime cases in Jammu and Kashmir after 2021. It is important to note that the data sets represent distinct categories of information collated by different agencies, with Annexure-I focusing on WCCB data and Annexure-II on Forest Department reports.
At the national level, the WCCB data presented in Annexure-I encompasses 36 States and Union Territories. The figures indicate cases reported across various jurisdictions during the five-year period from 2021 to 2025. Specifically, Annexure-I records 2021 figures for 28 jurisdictions, 2022 figures for 32, 2023 figures for 26, 2024 figures for 27, and 2025 figures for 28 jurisdictions. The Ministry clarified that these figures do not represent a consolidated count of all wildlife crimes registered by police and forest departments nationwide.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change stated that the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, empowers the WCCB to gather and collate intelligence pertaining to organised wildlife crime. This intelligence is then shared with State and other enforcement agencies to facilitate prompt action against offenders. The Act also provides for the establishment of a centralised wildlife crime data bank.
However, the parliamentary reply did not furnish a separate, consolidated national database of all wildlife crimes registered by police and forest departments across the country. Instead, the Ministry provided the WCCB’s State and Union Territory-wise data for the past five years through the aforementioned annexures.
Furthermore, the parliamentary response did not include specific details clarifying the continued existence of separate National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and WCCB databases. It also did not elaborate on the implementation status of a centralised, integrated wildlife crime database or whether the WCCB database would be made publicly accessible. The reply also omitted separate figures for wildlife crime cases registered by State Forest Departments that might not be reflected in the NCRB’s annual ‘Crime in India’ report, beyond the State/UT-wise data already presented in the annexures.
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