Illegal online trade threatens Assam’s wild orchids

Guwahati: A surge in illegal and unauthorised collection of wild orchids from Upper Assam forests is driving an online smuggling trade through social media platforms, prompting the Orchid Society of Assam to issue urgent warnings against the violation of the Wildlife Protection Act.Traders often use courier services to send protected species — such as Dendrobium lituiflorum and Rhynchostylis retusa — to buyers within the state and outside the northeast. The forest department has initiated raids. “Many buyers may not be aware that planting orchids at home after taking them from the forest areas is an offence. But traders take advantage of this ignorance,” a senior forest official said.Conservationists like Jitu Gogoi have warned that the wild species cannot survive in home cultivation, and the sale itself violates the Wildlife Protection Act.“Online sales of orchids in Assam are a growing trend that has increased over the last year. This illegal trade is conducted through social media platforms. The traders contact interested people individually,” Gogoi, society’s president and assistant professor of Silapathar Science College, told TOI on Thursday.Sources said people involved in this illegal trade also sell other plants, and some of them also run nursery business.Several markets in Duliajan, Digboi, Tinsukia and Dibrugarh in upper Assam were raided this year to stop the sale of orchids, but activists alleged that in some of the markets in Guwahati it’s openly continuing.This year, in the Dhemaji daily market in upper Assam, the forest department and Orchid Society of Assam stopped the sale of orchids around Rongali Bihu.Species such as Dendrobium lituiflorum, Rhynchostylis retusa, Dendrobium fimbriatum, Aerides rosea, Aerides odorata, Vanda teres, along with several ground orchids, are being collected from reserve forests of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts of Assam and illegally traded.The Orchid Society of Assam through a public notice on Wednesday appealed to all native orchid sellers across the state to immediately cease the collection and sale of wild orchids from their natural habitats. “It has come to our attention that certain individuals and gardeners have begun selling orchids through online platforms and local markets. Such activities are illegal and constitute a violation of the Wildlife Protection Act,” the society cautioned.It urged everyone to refrain from the illegal collection and commercialisation of native orchids for personal gain. “Instead, let us unite in the noble cause of conserving Assam’s wild orchids and safeguarding our rich natural heritage for future generations,” read the notice.In April this year, in Tingrai Chariali in Dibrugarh district, one individual was nabbed by the forest department while selling orchids from his home. Many orchid plants were rescued by Tinsukia Forest Division from that trader and these were handed over to Orchid Society of Assam, which later planted the orchids in Tinsukia College garden. Since these orchids were collected from forest areas, as per norms, these will have to be reintroduced in the wild. But for the time being, it is being under the care of the society.