S3|E12 - Tackling the Illegal Wildlife Trade with Jose Louies

Earlier this year, Amazon Prime released the thrilling crime drama “Poacher” which revolved around the elephant poaching crisis and ivory trade in 2015. Based in Kerala, the series explores how the Forest Department, with support from NGOs and conservationists, risked their lives to investigate and tackle the lucrative illegal ivory trade. One of the protagonists of the webseries, Alan Joseph, is based on one of India’s most prominent conservationists, Jose Louies.Jose was recently appointed as the CEO of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), one of the largest and oldest conservation groups in the country. In this episode, Jose elaborates upon various initiatives undertaken by WTI to counter wildlife trafficking and aid law enforcement across India. Jose also talks about his love for beekeeping and snakes. We briefly talk about the highly pressing issue of snakebites and one of Jose’s key projects - IndiaSnakes. The Think Wildlife Podcast is also available on iTunes, Spotify and YouTube. Please do consider upgrading to an optional paid subscription on Substack. 30% of the revenue from this episode will be donated to Wildlife Trust of India!Meet the HostAnish Banerjee: https://x.com/anishwildlifeThink Wildlife Foundation: https://thinkwildlifefoundation.com/Meet the GuestsJose Louies: https://x.com/josethanniRecommended Wildlife Conservation BooksWildlife Conservation in India by HS Pabla: https://amzn.to/3Ypx9ZhIndian Mammals: A Field Guide by Vivek Menon: https://amzn.to/4fhMiCLAt the Feet of Living Things by Aparajita Datta: https://amzn.to/3BZmtsN Get full access to The Think Wildlife Podcast at anishbanerjee.substack.com/subscribe