The federal government has banned the import of tigers, lions and other big cat species. According to highly placed sources, earlier, the federal government, following regular incidents of smuggling of big cats by certain wildlife traffickers, which were exposed by the media while the official regulators either remained unaware or were hand in glove with the traffickers, had refused to entertain any requests for permission from these traffickers for the import of big cats till their cases were disposed of. The sources said that later, the federal government reviewed its earlier decision and imposed a blanket ban on issuance of import permits of big cats till proper rules were formulated and guidelines were laid down for the import of big cats. They said the government had also imposed a ban on the export of the common parrot and rose-ringed parakeet, which are being exported from the country for a long time, as the government had reports that some unscrupulous exporters were in fact exporting the rare Alexandrian species parakeet under the garb of common parrots. They said the government was also considering reviewing the registration fees that are imposed on wildlife exporters and to introduce similar registration fees on wildlife importers also. The sources said that the media, a few months back, had exposed four