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The year 2017 began with a spate of wildlife crime from across the country. Multiple cases of poaching were reported, as were seizures of protected and vulnerable species – including hundreds of turtles in West Bengal and sambars in Karnataka.
Eleven men with the carcasses of two adult sambars were arrested by the Forest Department from Bhadra Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, Sharna Basapta, the state’s Assistant Conservator of Forest told IANS.
Techies from Bengaluru were among the arrested men.
The Indian sambar is a vulnerable species and is listed under Schedule 3 of the India's Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) 1972.
The seizures were made late on 1 January. The animals and the accused were handed over the state forest department.
Both animals and poachers arrested on the two days prima facie belonged to the state of Uttar Pradesh and the consignment was scheduled to reach Basirhat in North 24 Parganas District.
The Indian or Gangetic Softshell Turtles are vulnerable and are given a high degree of protection under Schedule 1 of the WPA.
Leopard and tiger poaching cases remained at an all-time high in 2015, with at least 436 leopards killed and 154 reported cases of hunting or skin and claws seizures.
"The hunt must have been done previously. The skin was seized from Mayurbhanj district of Odisha," Tito Joseph of WPSI told IANS.
Meanwhile, near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, a carcasses, which appeared to be that of a blackbuck, was discovered by the state forest department.
In another incident, 14 kg of deer meat was seized from a person from Seony Division of Madhya Pradesh on 1 January.
Meanwhile, 15 men, all tourists, were arrested with weapons and meat while camping in the protected forest area from Lansdowne Forest Division in Uttarakhand. The meat was sent to the lab for testing and their weapons and vehicles were confiscated.
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