Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972
No: 53 Dated: Sep, 09 1972
Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022
WILD LIFE (PROTECTION) ACT, 1972
ACT NO. 53 OF 1972
An Act to provide for the protection of wild animals, birds and plants and for matters connected therewith or ancillary or incidental thereto with a view to ensuring the ecological and environmental security of the country.
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
(2) It extends to the whole of India
(3) It shall come into force in a State or Union territory to which it extends on such date as the Central Government may, by notification, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act or for different States or Union territories.
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(1) "animal" includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, other chordates and invertebrates and also includes their young and eggs;
(2) "animal article" means an article made from any captive animal or wild animal, other than vermin, and includes an article or object in which the whole or any part of such animal has been used, and ivory imported into India and an article made therefrom;
(4) "Board" means a State Board for Wild Life constituted under sub-section (1) of section 6;
(5) "captive animal" means any animal, specified in Schedule I, Schedule II, Schedule III or Schedule IV, which is captured or kept or bred in captivity;
(7) "Chief Wild Life Warden" means the person appointed as such under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 4;
(7-A) "circus" means an establishment, whether stationary or mobile, where animals are kept or used wholly or mainly for the purpose of performing tricks or manoeuvres;
(9) "Collector" means the chief officer-in-charge of the revenue administration of a district or any other officer not below the rank of a Deputy Collector as may be appointed by the State Government under section 18-B in this behalf;
(10) "commencement of this Act", in relation to -
(a) a State, means commencement of this Act in that State,
(b) any provisions of this Act, means the commencement of that provision in the concerned State;
(11) "dealer" in relation to any captive animal, animal article, trophy, uncured trophy, meat or specified plant, means a person, who carries on the business of buying or selling any such animal or article, and includes a person who undertakes business in any single transaction;
(12) "Director" means the person appointed as Director of Wild Life Preservation under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 3;
(12-A) "Forest officer" means the Forest officer appointed under clause (2) of section 2 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (16 of 1927) or under any other Act for the time being in force in a State;
(12-B) "forest produce" shall have the same meaning as in sub-clause (b) of clause (4) of section 2 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (16 of 1927);
(14) "Government property" means any property referred to in section 39 or section 17-H;
(15) "habitat" includes land, water or vegetation which is the natural home of any wild animal;
(16) "hunting", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes,-
(a) killing or poisoning of any wild animal or captive animal and every attempt to do so;
(b) capturing, coursing, snaring, trapping, driving or baiting any wild or captive animal and every attempt to do so;
(c) injuring or destroying or taking any part of the body of any such animal or, in the case of wild birds or reptiles, damaging the eggs of such birds or reptiles, or disturbing the eggs or nests of such birds or reptiles;
(17) "land" includes canals, creeks and other water channels, reservoirs, rivers, streams and lakes, whether artificial or natural, marshes and wetlands and also includes boulders and rocks;
(18) "licence" means a licence granted under this Act;
(18-A) "livestock" means farm animals and includes buffaloes, bulls, bullocks, camels, cows, donkeys, goats, sheep, horses, mules, yaks, pigs, ducks, geese, poultry and their young but does not include any animal specified in Schedules I to V;
(19) "manufacturer" means a person who manufactures articles from any animal or plant specified in Schedules I to V and VI, as the case may be;
(20) "meat" includes blood, bones, sinew, eggs, shell or carapace, fat and flesh with or without skin, whether raw or cooked, of any wild animal or captive animal, other than a vermin;
(20-A) "National Board" means the National Board for Wild Life constituted under section 5-A;
(21) "National Park" means an area declared, whether under section 35 or section 38, or deemed under sub-section (3) of section 66 to be declared, as a National Park;
(22) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(23) "permit" means a permit granted under this Act or any rule made thereunder;
(24) "person" includes a firm;
(24-A) "protected area" means a National Park, a sanctuary, a conservation reserve or a community reserve notified under sections 18, 35, 36-A and 36-C of the Act;
(25) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(25-A) "recognised zoo" means a zoo recognised under section 38-H;
(25-B) "reserve forest" means the forest declared to be reserved by the State Government under section 20 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (16 of 1927), or declared as such under any other State Act;
(26) "sanctuary" means an area declared as a sanctuary by notification under the provisions of Chapter IV of this Act and shall also include a deemed sanctuary under sub-section (4) of section 66;
(27) "specified plant" means any plant specified in Schedule VI;
(29) "State Government", in relation to a Union territory, means the Administrator of that Union territory appointed by the President under article 239 of the Constitution;
(30) "taxidermy", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means the curing, preparation or preservation or mounting of trophies;
(30-A) "territorial waters" shall have the same meaning as in section 3 of the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and other Maritime Zones Act, 1976 (80 of 1976);
(31) "trophy" means the whole or any part of any captive animal or wild animal, other than vermin, which has been kept or preserved by any means, whether artificial or natural, and includes-
(a) rugs, skins and specimens of such animal mounted in whole or in part through a process of taxidermy, and
(b) antler, bone, carapace, shell, horn, rhinoceros horn, hair, feather, nail, tooth, tusk, musk, eggs, nests and honeycomb;
(32) "uncured trophy" means the whole or any part of any captive animal or wild animal, other than vermin, which has not undergone a process of taxidermy, and includes a freshly-killed wild animal, ambergris, musk and other animal products;
(33) "vehicle" means any conveyance used for movement on land, water or air and includes buffalo, bull, bullock, camel, donkey, elephant, horse and mule;
(34) "vermin" means any wild animal specified in Schedule V;
(35) "weapon" includes ammunition, bows and arrows, explosives, firearms, hooks, knives, nets, poison, snares and traps and any instrument or apparatus capable of anaesthetizing, decoying, destroying, injuring or killing an animal;
(36) "wild animal" means any animal specified in Schedules I to IV and found wild in nature;
(37) "wild life" includes any animal, aquatic or land vegetation which forms part of any habitat;
(38) "Wild Life Warden" means the person appointed as such under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 4;
(39) "zoo" means an establishment, whether stationary or mobile, where captive animals are kept for exhibition to the public and includes a circus and rescue centres but does not include an establishment of a licensed dealer in captive animals.