Skins of 20 wild animals seized in Uttarkashi

The Pioneer , Saturday, June 05, 2010
Correspondent : PNS | Dehradun

Skins of 20 wild animals were seized in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district on Friday by the Forest Department working in cooperation with the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI). One person has also been arrested.

According to a statement released by the WPSI, bullet marks were found on all the 14 skins of grey gorals, five skins of barking deer, and one of Eurasian otter. The department and WPSI conducted the raids at Singoni village from where Anil Das was arrested.

A poaching gang is currently operating in the region and is suspected to have been involved in the killings.

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

Otters are carnivores specially adapted to living an aquatic life and are found in riverine ecosystems in many parts of India. Like tiger and leopard body parts, otter skins are in high demand in illegal Chinese markets.

All these species are protected under the Wild life Protection Act. Crimes involving these species are punishable with imprisonment.

According to Upper Yamuna Circle Badkot Divisional Forest Officer Giridhar Sonar, the department had been receiving information about sites in Chami and Barnighat area being used as stores for pelts and other poached wildlife commodities.

According to the DFO the department will continue search and raids in the region to look for the two missing suspects and to clamp down on the trend of using hamlets in the region as storage points for pelts of body parts of wildlife poached in various areas. This region is chosen by poachers and smugglers as a convenient storage point from where the commodities can be transported to Dehradun.

 
SOURCE : http://www.dailypioneer.com/260470/Skins-of-20-wild-animals-seized-in-Uttarkashi.html
 


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