Narayan Chand, younger brother of notorious poacher Sansar Chand, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment in a leopard poaching case dating back to 2005. Narayan Chand is infamous as the poacher who was responsible for the poaching which eradicated the tigers in Sariska Tiger Reserve. Following his arrest in 2009, Narayan Chand confessed to having been involved in the purchase of pelts and body parts of 10 tigers from the Ramnagar area of Corbett Reserve. He also confessed to … Read More
China Premier Warned of Tiger Pledge ‘Mockery’
EIA’s personal letter highlights gap between China’s promises and actions for wild tiger conservation.
PRLog (Press Release) – May 19, 2011 – THE Environmental Investigation Agency has written a personal letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to warn him that significant failings within a key state department in China are making a mockery of his pledge to “vigorously combat poaching, trade and smuggling of tiger products”.
At last November’s Global Tiger Forum in St Petersburg, five leaders of Tiger Range … Read More
Speedpost Parcel Containing Ivory caught in Guwahati
Acting on specific intelligence, customs sleuths in the Guwahati airport confiscated an Ahmedabad bound parcel containing 3.45 kgs of Ivory. The parcel was seized as it was being boarded onto a Spicejet flight. The Ivory was concealed under paddy husks and the value of the tusks is estimated to be around Rs. 10.35 lakhs in the domestic market and crores abroad. Smuggling in the north east is increasingly said to be taking an aerial route.… Read More
Six arrested near Rajapalayam for hunting Spotted Deer
Six persons who were carrying deer horn and venison were arrested near Rajapalayam by Forest Department Officials. The officials were on patrolling duty near Asaymani forests when they saw some suspicious persons with a jute bag. The bag contained knives and sickles in addition to the deer body parts. … Read More
TRAFFIC Post, March 2011
TRAFFIC Post is TRAFFIC India’s quarterly newsletter on issues related to wildlife trade.
TRAFFIC is an international network, consisting of TRAFFIC International, based in Cambridge, UK with offices on five continents, seven regional programmes in 25 countries and territories, with ongoing research and activities in several others. TRAFFIC came to India in 1991, operating as a division of WWF-India. It has since worked closely with the National and the State Governments and various agencies to help study monitor and influence … Read More
Private airlines used for smuggling of animal parts
An RTI query filed with the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) by Governance Now, has revealed that Jet Airways and Kingfisher airlines have been used in the past to smuggle wildlife body parts to the North-eastern states. The issue has come up in a meeting of the special coordination committee on Wildlife Crime and Union Minister of Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh has asked the WCCB officials to take up the issue systematically. The airlines have denied the charge and … Read More
Enhanced protection for Tigers leaves Leopards vulnerable to Poaching
Poachers have shifted their attention to leopards, now that tigers are being protected with zeal. Leopard body parts are sold as tiger body parts. Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh are said to be the epicentre of this trade. Conservationists allege that for every tiger there are 10 leopards being poached. Leopards live on the fringes of the forests and are more vulnerable to poaching. There is a call for an accurate leopard census by the government.… Read More
Wild India’s Grim Reapers — Interview with Belinda Wright, WPSI
In an interview to CI, Belinda Wright, Executive Director, Wildlife Protection Society of India, talks to Prerna Singh Bindra about the growing illegal trade in wildlife.
Belinda Wright, tiger conservationist and wildlife campaigner, is the Founder and Executive Director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI). Born in Kolkata, she has spent her entire life working with wildlife in India. She was a internationally renowned wildlife photographer and Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker before turning to full time … Read More
Leader of a tiger poaching gang arrested near Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve
CHANDRAPUR: Mul police have finally nabbed the long absconding kingpin of the poachers gang busted by forest officials around one-and-half years back in Bhadrawati tehsil. Accused Shalik Gedam was picked up from Doni village in Mul tehsil and has been sent into MCR. Forest officials are likely to seek his custody after cops produce him before Bhadrawati court on Monday.
Notably, sleuths of Bhadrawati forest range had busted a poachers gang in March 2009. The first breakthrough came thanks to … Read More
No Two-bit Crime This
Belinda Wright has been crunching some numbers: between 1994 and 2009, out of 691 cases of crimes against tigers filed in Indian courts, 10 cases have resulted in conviction of a total of 30 persons.
“Statistics are so important to get the bigger picture,” says the 57-year-old wildlife conservationist and executive director of Wildlife Protection Society of India or WPSI, an NGO.
Interpol estimates global illegal trade in wildlife products is worth around $20 billion. “It is significant that the
Black Magic Behind Illegal Owl Trade in India
New Delhi, India, 2nd November 2010 — Use of owls in black magic and sorcery driven by superstition, totems and taboos is one of the prime drivers of the covert owl trade, finds a TRAFFIC India investigation into the illegal trade, trapping and utilization of owls in India. TRAFFIC India’s report entitled “Imperilled Custodians of the Night” was launched today by Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment and Forests at his office in New Delhi.
Hunting of and trade in … Read More
Seizure of 920 kg of antlers in Saharanpur near Dehra Dun, North India
There was a huge seizure of deer antlers this morning in the town of Saharanpur in the State of Uttar Pradesh, north of the capital New Delhi.
… Read More
A staggering 920 kg of antlers were seized by the officers of Behat Police Station. Included in the haul were sambar, cheetal and barking deer antlers. Three people have been detained in this known collection centre for antlers. Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) is assisting the police with the investigation.
Since May
Leopard skins and Himalayan Black Bear gall bladder seized in Uttarakhand
New Delhi: The Anti-Poaching cell of the Uttarakhand Forest Department, assisted by the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), seized 2 leopard skins, 1 leopard cat skin and 1 Himalayan black bear gall bladder from Chakrata in Dehradun district, Uttarakhand, last night.
In the late night operation, the Anti-Poaching cell led by Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Mr. Paramjit Singh, arrested two local persons in connection with this seizure. A case under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 has been registering … Read More
Another elephant electrocuted in Orissa
Notwithstanding the “elephantine” efforts proposed by the Project Elephant in its elaborate report ‘Gajah’ to secure the future of jumbos in the country, “elephanticides” continue in Odisha. In the latest incident, two elephants died in the State — one due to electrocution and the other shot dead by suspected poachers — in the wee hours on Monday.
Official sources in the State forest department confirmed the killing of two tuskers, of which one had been electrocuted at Hindol in Dhenkanal … Read More
Biligiri Rangana Temple Wildlife Sanctuary (BRT) forest staff expose ungulate poachers’ racket
The Forest Department squad of Biligiri Rangana Temple Wildlife Sanctuary (BRTWLS), pursuing fleeing poachers, has bumped into a well-knit racket into ungulate (hoofed animals) poaching, which has been active for the past five years. Three persons have been arrested in this connection.… Read More
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