The Chairman of Animal Welfare Board of India and Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations had requested restoration of protection to Rhesus Macaque under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, to prevent cruelty, exploitation and illegal trade, the minutes of the panel’s October 29 meeting stated.

Senior officials of the Environment Ministry said reinstating the species under Schedule II of the Act may be considered since under Section 11 of the law, the power to deal with wildlife species in conflict is given to states.

Yadav emphasised that all divisional forest officers and deputy conservator of forests should prepare site-specific management and conservation plans for the species and directed developing appropriate rescue and rehabilitation centres.

The panel’s recommendation was backed by Member Secretary, Central Zoo Authority and Member Secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority. State governments have been directed to prepare detailed, site-specific mitigation plans identifying and categorising areas of conflict. “A baseline study is to be developed based on studies carried out by the Wildlife Institute of India,” the minutes stated.

The matter of reinstating protection for the species was placed in the previous 85th meeting of the SC-NBWL for advice on policy framing. Subsequently, the ministry circulated a detailed questionnaire to Chief Wildlife Wardens of all states and Union Territories seeking reasoned statements.

Six states — Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh — supported reinstating the species in Schedule II of the Act for protection, prevention of cruelty, and ecological reasons. Assam, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and Andhra Pradesh opposed the proposal due to its non-threatened status and for conflict management reasons.