Two leopard skins, bear gall bladder seized in Uttarakhand
By IANSThursday, September 16, 2010
NEW DELHI - Two leopard skins and a gall bladder of a Himalayan black bear were seized from two people in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun district, an NGO said Thursday.
An anti-poaching team of Uttarakhand’s forest department, led by Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Paramjit Singh, made the seizure Wednesday night, the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), which helped the team, said in a statement. A leopard cat skin was also seized.
The accused were held in the Chakrata area of the district. A case has been registered against them under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
All three species — leopard (Panthera pardus), leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) and Himalayan black bear (Ursus thibetanus) — are listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act.
Any crime involving these species is punishable with an imprisonment between three and seven years and a minimum fine of Rs.10,000.
The bile from a bear’s gall bladder is used in the preparation of traditional Chinese medicine.
According to the WPSI’s wildlife crime database, 81 leopard deaths have been reported from Uttarakhand in 2010, with over 35 reportedly killed by poachers.
