SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir recorded 13 cases of organised wildlife crime in data collated by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) between 2021 and 2025, according to a reply by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The figures were provided by Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh in response to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1189, raised by Shri Anto Antony and answered on July 27, 2026.
As per Annexure-I of the reply, JK reported two cases in 2021 and one in 2022, while no cases were reported to the WCCB for 2023, 2024 and 2025.
A separate set of figures in Annexure-II shows that the Forest Department in JK reported 10 wildlife crime cases in 2021, with no cases reported in the subsequent four years covered by the data.
The two annexures together indicate that JK’s reported figures declined sharply after 2021, although the data sets represent separate categories of information collated by the WCCB.
At the national level, the WCCB data in Annexure-I covers 36 States and Union Territories and shows cases reported across several jurisdictions during the five-year period. The annexure records 2021 figures for 28 jurisdictions, 2022 figures for 32, 2023 figures for 26, 2024 figures for 27 and 2025 figures for 28. The figures are not a consolidated count of all wildlife crimes registered by police and forest departments across the country.
The Ministry said the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 mandates the WCCB to collect and collate intelligence concerning organised wildlife crime and share it with State and other enforcement agencies for immediate action against offenders. The law also provides for establishing a centralised wildlife crime data bank.
The reply, however, did not provide a separate consolidated national database of all wildlife crimes registered by police and forest departments. Instead, the Ministry furnished the WCCB’s State/UT-wise data for the last five years through the two annexures.
The parliamentary reply also did not provide separate details explaining the continued existence of distinct National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and WCCB databases, the implementation status of a centralised integrated wildlife crime database, or whether the WCCB database would be made publicly accessible.
It also did not provide a separate figure for wildlife crime cases registered by State Forest Departments that are not reflected in the NCRB’s annual Crime in India report, beyond the State/UT-wise data contained in the annexures.
