Bilaspur, February 3, 2015: The Himachal Pradesh Police Department seized six leopard skins and apprehended five people in a covert operation in Bilaspur town of the state. The entire operation was assisted by Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) – Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) team.

One of the six leopard skins that was seized by the Himcahaal Police Department

Early morning on February 3, Karan Singh (22) and Satish Kumar (33) were arrested from Bilaspur with four leopard skins. These two were stopped near a police check post of Bilaspur’s College Road while they were riding on a bike carrying a white bag. When the enforcement team opened the bag, they found four leopard skins. The duo didn’t produce any certificates or documents and tried to escape after realising that they were in trouble. Fortunately, the enforcement team caught hold of them and took them in their custody. The duo is from Patehar village in Amb area of Una district in Himachal Pradesh.

The enforcement team had prior information about these two trying to strike a deal for these leopard skins and had put them under surveillance for almost a week. Though the team was aware of their location, they waited to gather other leads on the nexus of this illegal trade. This seizure reconfirms the fact that wildlife trade in leopard pelts is still very high and can be attributed to their demand in international markets.

Based on their information, Bilaspur Police arrested Kamlesh, Baba Dharam Nath and Jai Pal and recovered two leopard skins on February 5. Total of six leopard skins were seized in three days by the Himachal Police with support from WCCB and IFAW-WTI team.

Seized Leopard skin that was painted to resemble a tiger skin.

.
The entire operation was supervised by Ashok Kumar, Superintendent of Police, Bilaspur, along with Dev Raj, Assistant Sub Inspector and Sanjeev Walia, Head Constable, Crime Branch. The efforts are now being made to find the people to whom these skins were to be sold and if there is involvement of any international gang dealing in smuggling of banned wildlife parts. Leopards are listed under Scheduled I of Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. A case has been registered against Karan Singh, Satish Kumar and three others under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, under section 51.

Earlier on June 1, 2014, two people were arrested in Sangla valley of Kinnaur district with a leopard skin after WCCB tipped off the Kinnaur Forest Department. On June 10, nine skins of Asian small clawed otters were seized from Baddi in Solan district, and this time the tip off was from WCCB and IFAW-WTI team.

“IFAW-WTI has been collaborating with WCCB and other enforcement agencies in combating wildlife crimes throughout the country and assisted in making several seizures and arrests. IFAW-WTI has had anti-poaching training programmes in several tiger reserves. Apart from these training programmes, anti-snare walks are being conducted in different tiger reserves to ensure that no wild animal becomes a victim of poaching,” said Jose Louies, Regional Head, WTI.