GUWAHATI: The authorities of Manas National Park and police on Tuesday found the skin of a tiger that was killed last week and arrested three persons.
The tiger skin was found in Betbari, an encroached area in the Bhuyapara range of the park.
The team of forest officials and police was tipped off about the location of the tiger skin on Sunday by a fourth involved, a surrendered NDFB militant called BulagraBasumatary. Park director HK Sarma said Basumatary, during interrogation, revealed that he and his accomplices had hidden the tiger skin in Betbari.
The tiger, which had been poisoned, had been translocated to Manas from Sivasagar in 2006. The national park, which is also a tiger reserve, and the Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan form a contiguous landscape.
Park sources said encroachment in Manas was a major threat to conservation.
They added that in the past, too, encroachers had been involved in rhino poaching and other wildlife crimes.
The latest monitoring by the Transboundary Manas Conservation Area, a joint initiative of India and Bhutan, found 21 tigers in the landscape.
