Animal rights activists in Odisha have sought the invoking Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against YouTubers and social media operators engaged in posting wildlife performances to earn money.

The Forest Department recently issued order to strictly enforce provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act,1972 to ensure all such offenders who keep captive wildlife and post photos of performances with them or of display of rescued snakes are booked under the law, Biswajit Mohanty, Secretary, Wildlife Society of Orissa, said in a letter to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden, Orissa.

Some of these social media users have massive subscribers running into millions as their videos of gimmickry with wildlife were very popular amongst the masses. Mute wild animals suffered for long because of such unscrupulous persons who profited immensely from advertisement revenue share from social media platforms, Mohanty noted.

In the wake of the order and action by the department, many videos on YouTube and Facebook have been deleted by the culprits apart from the Social Media platforms themselves, he said.

Given the enormous reach and popularity of their videos some of them would have earned crores of rupees over the last eight to ten years from such illegal activity at the expense of suffering wildlife.

Apart from encouraging others to copy them, such lucrative earnings also lead to defiance by these offenders.

“We draw your attention to the provisions of Section 2(1) (y) of “Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002” wherein action can be taken to confiscate the proceeds of crime as listed in Part A of the Schedule to the Act. Offences under the Wildlife (Protection) Act,1972 are listed in paragraph 6 of Part A of the Schedule. Hence, proceeds earned from such crime and assets created out of them like house, land, car, gold, shares, etc. can be confiscated under the PMLA Act,2002,” Mohanty stated in the letter

It would do justice to the suffering wildlife who were used and tortured in such videos. The tainted proceeds of their heinous crimes against voiceless creatures should be confiscated by the government.

“We request you to hand over such cases to the Enforcement Directorate, Bhubaneswar for appropriate enquiry under the PMLA,2002 and attach the derived money and assets of these offenders,” Mohanty concluded.

It may be noted here that a case has been registered against a YouTuber couple in Jajpur district for allegedly domesticating Langurs, a protected species and sharing their videos on social media platforms.