Poachers caught! Incidents of poaching on the rise

DOCTOR HELD FOR SMUGGLING RARE SERPENTS

LUDHIANA: A gang led by a doctor was arrested here smuggling rare snakes. 

Acting on a tip off, the Forest and Wildlife Department of Punjab arrested five persons including a dentist. 



"These snakes are rare and these men were smuggling them to Uttar Pradesh. We came to know that its venom is quite expensive. They had plans to sell it to some black magicians for almost 300,000 rupees to 400,000 rupees," said Balwinder Singh, forest official, Ludhiana. 

A case has been registered against them under the Forest and Wildlife act of 1972. (PTI)

TORTOISES RESCUED ALIVE

Allahabad: Three poachers have been arrested with 60 tortoises, some still alive, in Uttar Pradesh's Allahabad district, the police said.



The men were nabbed from Phulpur town while they were on their way to West Bengal to hand over the tortoises to their clients.

Police said the live tortoises were handed over to forest officials.

'The three are also involved in supplying animal skin, antlers and bird's feathers to clients in several states including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar,' police inspector Santosh Awasthi told reporters in Allahabad.



He added: 'They have been involved in illegal wildlife trade for nearly six years. We are yet to ascertain from where they got the tortoises.' The three are from Sasaram district in Bihar.

India has banned the trade of tortoises under the 1972 Wildlife Protection Act, but the huge premium and lax laws are luring poachers to the trade.

Tortoises are killed for their meat and are used in preparation of some medicines, officials said. (IANS)


MUNIAS TO FLY FREE AGAIN

Coimbatore: Following a tip off from a nature enthusiast, Forest officials rescued four Munia birds (small finch-like Asian birds) from a person and fined him for the offence.

The team deputed by Conservator of Forests, Coimbatore Circle, R.Kannan and District Forest Officer, I. Anwardeen and led by Forester S.M. Natarajan apprehended P. Murugesan (35) of Dharmapuri, currently working in Tirupur, after he was found in possession of four birds belonging to Schedule IV of the Wildlife Protection Act.

Preliminary enquiries revealed that a house owner in his area in Tirupur gave the birds to Murugesan asking him to either free them or sell them. Murugesan was trying his luck to make some money by selling them.

The birds were found in iron cages.

Based on his information, Forest officials have asked the officials in Tirupur to ascertain the source of these birds from the house owner to track down the primary seller of Munia birds. Murugesan was fined Rs. 1,000 for the offense. (The Hindu)

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Sariksa to get two more tigers in July

JAIPUR: The roar of the tiger is all set to get louder at Sariska Tiger Reserve with the Centre finally approving relocation of two more tigers from Ranthambore National Park. The relocation of the big cats — one male and a female — is likely to take place on July 4.

According to forest officials, though the tentative dates for the relocation has been fixed for July 4, attempts for the same will begin from July 1 itself.

Sariska, as of now, has two female and a male tiger which were airlifted from Ranthambore between July 2008 and early 2009. However, further relocation attempts were put on hold after a few wildlife experts expressed fears that relocating the big cats without testing the genes to see if they belong to the same family might prove disastrous.

“An expert team comprising Aparajita Dutta from the National Wildlife Conservation Trust and AJT John Singh, former professor of the Wildlife Trust of India, has been camping at Ranthambore since long. In fact, it is in response to a letter written by Dutta on the rising pressure in Ranthambore due to the increasing population of big cats that the Centre has finally agreed to relocate transient tigers from there to Sariska,” said Ram Lal Jat, forest minister.

Officials of the state forest department said that DNA testing will continue alongside with relocation as it takes a lot of time. “The scats have been collected and sent for DNA testing. In this relocation, our prime objective would be to shift the two tigers which have strayed out of Ranthambore to Kota and Kailadevi. But in case we fail to locate them on that day, we will shift other identified tigers,” said an official.

Two tigers — a female, T-37 and a male, T-47 — had strayed away from the Ranthambore reserve earlier this year and have refused to come back so far. Forest officials have been maintaining a watch on them and trying to bring them back to the reserve. .

“We will try to shift distant animals so as not to affect the gene pool but even if the relocated animals are related in any way, we will try to correct it by relocating tigers from some other zone sometime later. There is, however, no question of incompatibility as the tigers from Ranthambore to be relocated are healthy,” he said. So far, nearly 10 tigers have been identified in the Ranthambore reserve for relocation, of which two will be chosen on that day.

Meanwhile, permissions like that for the use of a helicopter for airlifting the tiger have already been taken and researchers from Wildlife Institute of India and state forest department are camping in Sariska, keeping a track of identified tigers. (Times News Network)

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Massacre in Uttarakhand: Variety of animals skinned sends shockwaves

Dehradun: The Forest Department of Uttarakhand, assisted by the Wildlife Protection Society of India, seized 20 wild animal skins at Singoni village in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand. The seized items include fourteen goral skins (Naemorhedus goral), five barking deer skins (Muntiacus muntjak) and one Eurasian otter skin (Lutra lutra). Bullet marks were found on all the skins.

The enforcement team, led by Mr. Giridhar Sonar, Divisional Forest Officer of Upper Yamuna Forest Division, arrested one local person in this connection. It is believed that an organized poaching mafia is currently operating in the Western Himalayas in Uttarakhand.

The grey goral, a goat-antelope, is found in the Western Himalayas, and the barking deer or Indian muntjac is found through out India except Jammu & Kashmir, the arid/desert areas of Gujarat and Rajasthan and the high Himalayas.

Both these species are protected under law and are listed in Schedule III of the Wild life Protection Act. Crimes involving these species are punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, and a fine which may extend to twenty five thousand rupees, or both.

Otters are carnivores specially adapted to living an aquatic life and are found in riverine ecosystems in many parts of India. They are listed in Part II of Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act. Offences committed in relation to this animal are punishable with imprisonment for a term between three to seven years, and with a fine of ten thousand rupees or more. Like tiger and leopard body parts, otter skins are in high demand in illegal Chinese markets.

Poaching is one of the main conservation threats to the goral, barking deer and otter. The killing of prey species such as the goral and barking deer is also a threat to big carnivores that live in the area. (Wildlife Protection Society of India)

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