Poaching of leopards and smuggling of their pelts seem to have become routine crimes in the mountains of Uttarakhand. Two persons were arrested and one leopard pelt was recovered from them in a joint operation undertaken by the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) and the Anti-Poaching cell of the Uttarakhand Forest Department in the Ghat area of Chamoli district.
Sources state that in the past three years at least 25 leopard pelts were recovered and about 40 persons apprehended for wildlife poaching and smuggling from the Ghat area of Chamoli alone but the authorities are not taking any concrete step to effectively prevent wildlife poaching in the area.
According to Rajendar Agrawal of Wildlife Protection Society of India, members of the society who were acting as decoy customers were offered leopard pelts by two persons from two different villages in the Ghat area under Nandprayag post station in Chamoli district. Devendar Singh of Luntara village and Shivraj of Guwadak village in the Ghat area of Chamoli offered to sell leopard pelts at Rs 15,000 per piece. The duo offered to sell a total of four leopard pelts to the decoy customers after they purchased one.
The Ghat area is notorious for wildlife poaching and smuggling of medicinal herbs as at least 25 leopard pelts have been recovered and up to 40 persons apprehended for wildlife poaching and smuggling during the past three years from the area. Two leopard pelts recovered in July from Nandprayag was also supplied from the Ghat area.
Agrawal states that up to 60 small villages located in the Ghat area are too remote to be regularly monitored and patrolled by departmental authorities. The indiscriminate hunting carried on by the villagers has decimated the population of muntjac (barking deer) and other animals which constitute the prey base of the leopard. Due to this leopards end up preying on domestic animals which in turn are poisoned by villagers who are looking for retribution but are not averse to making profit by selling the pelt of the poisoned feline which they themselves skin. About 80 per cent of the leopard pelts recovered were of animals killed by poisoning, added Agrawal.
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Srikant Chandola avers that the fact that wildlife poachers and smugglers are being apprehended by the anti-poaching cell shows that the department is acting against poachers. However, he acknowledges that though the department is nabbing those selling leopard pelts, it will have to step up its efforts to prevent poaching of leopards and other wild animals in the first place. The department is working towards establishing an efficient information network, especially in the remote mountainous regions which are difficult for the staff of the department to regularly monitor.
It is pertinent to mention that at least 70 leopard deaths were reported in Uttarakhand during the first eight months of 2010. Moreover, 25 leopard pelts and more than 50 kg of leopard bones were also recovered by the authorities since the start of this year.
