After the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020, India issued an advisory on June 11 2020, granting amnesty to individuals possessing exotic live species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), a multilateral treaty of 183 countries, ratified by India in 1976.

“The amnesty was granted to encourage individuals to disclose their possession of exotic animals to create a database of CITES-listed animals in India so that the government would monitor births, deaths, trade, or change of possession of the animals in the future,” says Debadityo Sinha, a wildlife laws expert.

Meanwhile, wildlife experts hail the decision of the government to provide the legal framework the country needed.

“This legal framework is like something better than nothing,” says a wildlife crime investigator Jose Louise. “This framework will prevent highly endangered exotic and protective animals in captivity and use it for an opportunity to trade it further.”