Delhi hub of animal parts trade

Hindustan Times , Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Correspondent : Staff Reporter
Is Delhi fast turning into a trading ground for protected wildlife? If the recent seizure by the wildlife department of the Delhi Police is taken into account, this might well be true. Delhi government officials say north Delhi is the new hub for the illegal trade.

In January this year, Sudesh Kumar and his three associates were arrested with a huge cache of protected wildlife items in the Kamala Nagar area. The haul included body parts of tigers, found in Delhi for the first time in the past four years. Twelve tiger skins, nails, teeth, claws and jaw were recovered along with 39 leopard skins and 135 kilogram of porcupine quills.

In the first week of March, one Ghanshyam who belongs to Panipat was arrested with three leaopard skins and four otter skin in the Mukerjee Nagar area.

On March 18, one Jaswant Singh of Rajasthan was caught with Sambar horns at the airport. In April again four people were arrested with a huge cache of animal skins in Timarpur area.

The huge cache of tiger and leopard skins surprised officials. Never before such goods were seized in the Capital, they said. In 2004, about half a dozen leopard skins were sized in raids.

However, an official claimed that no tiger skin was seized that time. Similar was the case in two previous years.

Officials say the trade of animal parts has now shifted from rural areas of matros. “Poachers are coming to cities to get a better prices. Those arrested have told us that the prize they get in cities like Delhi is almost double than what they get near the poaching zones,” an official said.

 
SOURCE : Hindustan Times, Wednesday, June 01, 2005
 


Back to pevious page



The NetworkAbout Us  |  Our Partners  |  Concepts   
Resources :  Databases  |  Publications  |  Media Guide  |  Suggested Links
Happenings :  News  |  Events  |  Opinion Polls  |  Case Studies
Contact :  Guest Book  |  FAQs |  Email Us