In which year was the Wildlife (Protection) Act passed?

The Wildlife (Protection) Act is India's principal wildlife-conservation statute — it lists protected species under schedules, bans and regulates hunting and trade in wild animals and their products, and empowers governments to declare sanctuaries and national parks.

Parliament enacted this law as Act No. 53 of 1972.

The other years belong to different, unrelated milestones, not to this Act:

• 1960 — the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act was passed, a separate law dealing with general cruelty to animals, not species-specific wildlife protection.

• 1962 — the Animal Welfare Board of India was constituted as an administrative body under the 1960 Act, not a new wildlife-protection statute.

• 1975 — the international treaty CITES, which regulates cross-border trade in endangered species, entered into force worldwide, unrelated to when this Indian Act was enacted (India itself became a party to CITES only in 1976).