19 leopard, 6 tiger skins seized in 4 weeks
Avijit Ghosh
[ 8 Aug, 2006 0315hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


NEW DELHI: With police and forest officials seizing at least six tiger skins, 19 leopard skins and several kilograms of big cat bones from illegal wildlife traders across India in the past four weeks, alarmed conservationists feel that the feeble efforts by UPA government notwithstanding, poaching continues to be child's play.

The seizures were made between July 12 to August 6 in 11 separate incidents in the small towns and qasbahs of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The latest tiger skin confiscation took place near Mala railway station in Pilibhit district on Saturday. The Uttar Pradesh forest department seized two tiger skins and 1 kg tiger bones. A man of Bangladeshi origin was apprehended. Two others escaped.

"These are skins of adult tigers about 10-11 feet long," says Tito Joseph of Wildlife Protection Society of India. Conservationists say these incidents indicate that traders of tiger and leopard skins exist in cities, towns and qasbahs alike.

Some confiscations have been made from little-known towns such as Kanker in Chhattisgarh where a 10-feet-long tiger skin was seized by the forest department on July 12.

I sure do hate to hear these things. I wish things were different in India, but I fear for the survival of the tigers there.

The market is China and Hong Kong, not that both are different.Poverty,easy money and inept management of forest resources...... It boils my blood every time I read about these incidents. As a kid I used to accompany my dad on his camps and watching these magnificent beasts in the wildeness is a sight to behold and tremble.When they look straight into your eyes.... Tiger Tiger burning bright....

Best- Locksley,R.