Tokay Gecko gets global protection

Massively hunted for Chinese medicines, Tokay Gecko, an endangered species of lizards usually found in North-East India can now have a certain level of protection from exploitation with the wildlife global summit bringing it under the Appendix II list.

Appendix II means that the animal or its body parts cannot be traded unless it can be shown that it wouldn’t threaten their chances of survival. Tokay Geckos were not previously protected under Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the treaty that governs the international wildlife trade.

A senior Union Environment Ministry official said at the recently concluded 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations, CITES approved our proposal to bring the lizard under Appendix II. Philippines, the European Union and the USA too had supported our proposal, he added.

The CITES Secretariat has temporarily concluded that regulation of the international trade in Tokay Geckos may be required to counter further decline. Given the patchy nature of both trade and population data of Tokay Geckos, a listing would help in gathering data on these aspects, the official added.

Geckos are listed in Schedule III of India’s Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, as a “highly endangered animal”. However, this has not much helped to curb its smuggling.

According to various reports and seizures from time to time by wildlife officials, hundreds of locals in the northeastern States smuggle Tokay Geckos to centres of Chinese medicine across Asia to be used for its reported medicinal values. Also, they sell the lizards to international wildlife traffickers.

It is believed that the Gecko’s parts are used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat cancer, asthma, diabetes, skin disorders and a range of ailments, though there is no scientific proof to substantiate the purported medicinal properties of this reptile species.

Besides North-East India, these reptiles are found in Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh, throughout Southeast Asia, including the Philippines and Indonesia, New Guinea.

While the overall volume of the Tokay Gecko trade/smuggling is not clearly known, last year, global wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC estimated that Indonesia alone has been exporting 1.2 million dried Tokay Geckos annually. In recent years, Taiwan has imported 15 million Geckos from different countries.

TRAFFIC also warned that the wild population of the Tokay Gecko in Southeast Asia was in grave danger as it is hunted to meet demand in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam and other Asian countries.