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Mumbai: SGNP to get wildlife forensic laboratory

Maharashtra's Chief Wildlife Warden said that after much delay, the laboratory will be operational from March 2022.

Mumbai: SGNP to get wildlife forensic laboratory
SHARES

Mumbai's Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) will soon have a wildlife forensic laboratory. They will carry out DNA analysis of the animals based on swab and scat samples.

Maharashtra's Chief Wildlife Warden said that after much delay, the laboratory will be operational from March 2022. The lab is going to be set up along the lines of a similar facility which will be inaugurated in Nagpur on Friday, October 22.

This is now integrated into the State Wildlife Action Plan, which was earlier sanctioned by the Maharashtra Chief Minister during the State Board for Wildlife meeting. The development was pending since 2019 when the forest department had first proposed a dedicated facility for wildlife forensics in the city.

Maharashtra’s Chief Wildlife Warden, Sunil Limaye, stated that whenever they had to carry out any forensic analysis, they sent the samples to Jabalpur or Hyderabad. It would take months for the results to come in and made it difficult to resolve the wildlife crime. He further added that having a dedicated facility here can become handy later and help in creating a database of vulnerable animals through scat samples.

The officials of SGNP have already found a location to set up the laboratory on the premises and are currently looking for acquiring the funds. An approximate budget for the same is INR 3.5 crores. Last week, it was reported that Maharashtra has become the first state to approve the Wildlife Action Plan.

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