CITES Flags Concerns Over India's Wildlife Imports: Captive or Captured?

In a concerning development, a verification mission by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has raised red flags over India's import of critically endangered species. The report, released on November 4, 2025, recommends that India halt the import of animals like gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, and snow leopards until the government strengthens its controls to safeguard against the illegal wildlife trade.

The CITES mission, which visited India in mid-September 2025, found that while no imports occurred without the required CITES permits, several cases still raised questions about the true origin of the specimens and the use of captive breeding exemptions. The report underlined that India's Wildlife Protection Act prohibits zoos from acquiring wild animals, with imports almost exclusively under the "captive bred" source code.

However, the mission noted that animals were imported from facilities that would normally sell animals commercially, raising concerns about the "illegal harvest of wild animals that are later declared as captive bred." The report urged India to verify all highlighted imports with source countries to ensure the animals were indeed captive-bred and not taken from the wild.

The CITES Secretariat has now recommended that the CITES Standing Committee, scheduled to meet in late November 2025, ask India to take necessary actions and submit a report within 90 days to address these concerning findings.