19 leopard skins among others seized this year

The Pioneer , Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Correspondent : Prerna Singh Bindra
Not even ten days into 2006, and there have been seizures of no less than 19 leopard skins, a significant indicator of how critically endangered the leopard is in India. And, inspite of being enlisted as a Schedule I species under the Wildlife Protection Act, clearly unprotected.

On Tuesday, the Fatehpur police seized 14 leopard skins and one otter skin. According to the police, all the skin were fresh. On the same morning in Jabalpur, one huge tiger, two leopard and one hyena skins were seized by the police. On January 6 and 7, the Gondia police, in Maharashtra, had a haul of two leopard skins.

Four days earlier on January 2, one leopard skin was caught by the police in Shivpuri, taking the grand total of known leopard poaching cases to 19 this year, and this is the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Talking to The Pioneer, Superintendent of Police Vir Bahadur Singh, said that the accused in the Fatehpur case, Amin Ahmed, from whose house the skin was seized is a repeat offender in wildlife crime. He was the accused in the Lucknow seizure in 2003, which yielded 12 leopard skins, along with another known name in the illegal wildlife trade - Tsering Atup Tamang. As is usually the case, Amin was released on bail, and was back in business. According to the Police, they raided Amin's house on a tip off from the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department and Wildlife Protection Society of India.

Singh said that Amin and his son, Imran were both based, and conducting their illegal business, from Delhi, while the house in Fatehpur was being used to store illegal wildlife derivatives. Fatehpur is just 35 kms from Khaga, infamous for the biggest ever seizure in history of 18,000 leopard claws, 220 black buck skins, 70 leopard skins and four tiger skins. Undercover investigations show that the accused is related to, and has links, with the Khaga seizure.

"It appears that the Fatehpur-Khaga belt, and this area around Allahabad has become a major hub for illegal trade, mainly because tanning is the best there," says Belinda Wright, chairperson, WPSI. She adds that while tiger trade is of serious concern, in terms of volume the leopard trade is even bigger. In fact, the CBI has gone on record to say that for every tiger skin there are about eight leopard seizures.

This may be because the leopard does not enjoy the public support that the tiger does, and poachers get a lot of support from the local population. Lending weight to the statement is that there have been as many leopard skins in the past month, as the number of days in it. In the past month, 31 leopard skins have been seized.

 
SOURCE : The Pioneer, Wednesday, January 11, 2006
 


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