Wildlife SOS CEO questioned in poaching and smuggling probe

Wildlife SOS, an animal welfare non-profit, is under investigation following allegations of involvement in wildlife trafficking. The Madhya Pradesh Forest Department and the State Tiger Strike Force questioned the organization’s co-founder and CEO, Kartick Satyanarayan, for over nine hours regarding a leopard poaching and skin smuggling case in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

Satyanarayan has maintained his innocence, claiming the allegations may stem from a “conspiracy” or “misunderstanding,” and stated he is cooperating fully with authorities. The questioning followed a Supreme Court order directing him to appear before forest officials.

Separate allegations have surfaced regarding the NGO’s potential links to an elephant smuggling operation. Records from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau reportedly connect the organization to a 2022 case involving a female elephant allegedly smuggled from Nepal into Uttar Pradesh. Investigators reportedly identified communications on a phone belonging to a police sub-inspector that referenced an individual associated with Wildlife SOS in relation to the elephant trade. In response, Wildlife SOS stated that the individual involved had only been briefly associated with the organization and his employment ended in 2016.