The Wildlife Wing, which has received 2,000 applications, has taken up the mammoth task of issuing ownership certificates, considered a tool to tackle poaching. While two certificates have already been issued, the rest will be taken up soon. “The process is tedious. It has taken us two years to conduct inspections, ground research on the applicants, studying the articles and tracing their history,” said a senior forest official. “Now we will be giving out the certificates.”

The certificates will help keep the record of who possesses which article and also help the owner avoid harassment during raids, he added. The rider is that the department now has the right to confiscate any wildlife article not certified.

The policy of issuing certificates was introduced by the Union ministry a few years ago and an advertisement was published in 2003-04. The concept, however, had failed to take off initially, owing to a lack of response from the owners.

“There was a general apprehension that if they (the owners) apply, the government might confiscate their prized possessions as the Centre had already banned wildlife trade,” said P K Roy, Additional Principal Conservator of Forest (Wildlife Wing). Following the failure of the first deadline in 2003, the government again floated an advertisement for applications and set a new deadline of 2006.

The certification can be in various forms — hologram prints, washable logos and microchips on live animals.

“Most Indian animals, except for some which are domesticated, come under the Scheduled category. Possession of any of these will be illegal, unless they are certified. With the ownership certification now, we can have computerised record. If any article is found with someone else, we can check the original possessor,” said Roy.

Wildlife articles include items like ivory, elephant legs, skins of tiger, leopard and deer, rhino horns, crocodile teeth, tortoise eggs, bison horns, and others. It also includes Shahtoosh shawls.