By Manoj Kumar Ojha

GUWAHATI: Taking prompt action the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has raised a red alert for tiger reserves across India after the seizure of nine-foot-long tiger skin and approximately 18 kilograms of tiger bones from Guwahati to save them from poachers.

The tiger skin and bones were seized on June 28, 2023 from four individuals in Guwahati.

In a quick reaction to the huge seizure of tiger skin and bones, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has raised a red alert for several tiger reserves across the country.

The WCCB has issued a red alert because of the threat posed by organized Bawaria poaching gangs from Haryana.

The WCCB, a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), has urged field directors of tiger reserves and neighbouring areas to enhance patrolling efforts based on credible intelligence.

There are four tiger reserves in Assam – Kaziranga, Manas, Nameri, and Orang. In addition to that, there are three tiger reserves in Arunachal Pradesh – Namdapha, Namlang, and Pakke.

The four smugglers arrested with the tiger skin and bones in Guwahati have reportedly confessed that a number of organised rackets are now operational across India, and are supplying the tiger skin and bones to clients in foreign countries. 

The smugglers have been identified as Ramu Das from Samalkha in Panipat, Om Prakash, Maya Devi, and Rajwati, from Pinjore in Haryana.

They confessed that the tiger skin and bones were intended to be smuggled to Myanmar with the assistance of a trader from Shillong.

Acting on intelligence input provided by members of a wildlife NGO, all four smugglers were arrested with the tiger skin and the bones. The individuals were arrested on Wednesday night from a rented house at Dharapur in the western periphery of Guwahati city.

While the WCCB is currently verifying the origin of the seized tiger skin, there are conflicting statements regarding its source.

Maharashtra Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (wildlife), Maheep Gupta, denied that the skin and body parts were from Chandrapur, suggesting they were from Uttar Pradesh.

However, Keshav Kumar, a former IPS officer, and consultant to the Assam Home Department, who assisted in the seizure, informed the media that the tiger was likely killed in a Maharashtra forest approximately a month ago.

WCCB officials confirmed that the tiger skin did not match the database of Tadoba but revealed ongoing efforts to compare it with the database maintained by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) covering the entire landscape.

Officials are also comparing the tiger’s stripes with those of tigers in the Satpura Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.

Despite the denial by Gupta, police call detail records (CDRs) indicate a connection between the poaching incident and Maharashtra. Sources suggest that the tiger may have been hunted in the Bramhapuri division of Chandrapur.

The tiger reserves and their adjacent forest regions put under red alert and surveillance include Tadoba (Maharashtra), Satpura (Madhya Pradesh), Corbett and Rajaji (Uttarakhand), Pench (Madhya Pradesh & Maharashtra), Amangarh and Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh), and Valmiki (Bihar).

Additionally, forest areas in Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, and Balaghat have also been placed on high alert.

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