Assam: Poacher arrested with tiger skin, body parts from Chirang district

A wildlife smuggler was arrested by the Sashastra Seema Bal and a tiger skin along with its body parts was seized from him in the Chirang district on March 4.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of Sashastra Seema Bal conducted a raid at No. 15 at Khairabari under the Panbari police station of Bijni sub-division of Chirang district. 

The arrested person has been identified as Ansuma Khaglari (23). The house of the detained person is said to be in Khairabari.

Also Read: Arunachal: Poacher arrested with tiger skin, body parts from Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary

A tiger poacher was recently arrested in Dibang Valley Headquarters, Anini, during a joint operation by officials of the forest departments of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.

The poacher has been identified as Jakir Husain, a resident of Hagun Toli village in the Nagaon district of Assam.

A Royal Bengal tiger skin, four tiger canine teeth, and one tiger skull were seized from the poacher by the team of officers and personnel led by Wildlife Crime Control Bureau Inspector Jawaharlal Baro. An investigation revealed that the tiger had been taken from the Malinye area of the DWS with assistance from local poachers. In Roing (Lower Dibang Valley) and Anini, officials from the forest are currently looking for the other accused.

In the meantime, as soon as he received the report, PCCF Rajesh S set up a high-level committee to conduct additional DWS investigations under the direction of the Namdapha Tiger Reserve field director. "Be on high alert to nab the offenders and prevent such poaching incidents in Anini and other parts of the state," the PCCF also instructed the local authorities.

Numerous reports of tiger poaching in the DWS have been made. However, the DWS does not yet have a dedicated staff to protect tigers because the "Project Tiger" scheme has not yet been implemented. For the entire sanctuary, which is 4,149 square kilometers in size and is situated in high-altitude terrain, there are only four to five frontline staff members.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had approved declaring the DWS a tiger reserve on the basis of a Wildlife Institute of India study. However, the state government has not yet provided its final approval for the final notification of the tiger reserve to the union environment, forest, and climate change ministry.