arrested include one from Dehradun, two from Chamoli and two from Nepal with the contraband believed to have been sourced from Chamoli district. Wildlife activists point out that the considerable number of wildlife contraband seizures made this year, many of them by the police, point towards the failure of the forest department to act effectively against the thriving wildlife crimes in Uttarakhand.

The STF nabbed the five men after on a tip-off about men reaching the State capital from Chamoli to sell wildlife contraband. They were carrying pelts of two leopards with skulls attached, two bear gall bladders and one musk deer pod. Talking to The Pioneer, the forest department anti-poaching cell director SK Dutt said that he had alerted the department staff concerned about a week ago about the possibility of wildlife contraband being supplied from Chamoli district but in the end the police arrested these men. “The department is sensitive towards the situation, especially in the border areas of the State. Our staff has been warned to remain more vigilant in such areas,” he said.

However, Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) Uttarakhand in-charge Rajendra Agrawal said that department’s intelligence gathering and action on the same is lagging behind the required standard.

“This year at least 20 leopard pelts, four musk deer pods and 13 bear gall bladders have been seized by the authorities from various places in Uttarakhand. With the police making more seizures than the forest departments, questions are bound to be raised about the efficiency of the department in tackling wildlife crime,” said Agrawal

The recent report on illegal trade in leopard parts in India by TRAFFIC the wildlife trade monitoring network had revealed that Uttarakhand had emerged as a major source from where the leopard parts are being traded to Delhi being a major epicenter of the illegal trade along with adjacent areas of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.