Huge haul of tiger, leopard skin seized

A huge consignment of skins and bones - derived from endangered Indian tigers, leopards and otters and worth billions of rupees - has been seized in Nepal, Indian wildlife officials said Friday.

The seizure, believed to be the biggest in Nepal in recent times, included five tiger skins, 36 leopard skins, 238 otter skins and 113 kg of tiger bones, IANS news agency reported.

Comments from Nepali officials were not immediately available.

Royal Nepalese Army personnel stationed inside Langtang National Park for its protection found the consignment during a routine patrol in the nearby northern town of Syabru Besi last week. It was in cardboard boxes hidden beneath perishable goods.

"The consignment, in all probability, was coming from Delhi," an official said. These goods were supposed to be sent to Tibet from Syabru Besi, the official said.

The person carrying the consignment, Mingmar Tshering Tamang, is under police custody along with two of his accomplices, both from Nepal.

Interrogation revealed that international smuggler Tashi Tshering alias Tshewang was involved. They face Nepal's stringent law on wildlife crime.

Ashok Kumar, an official of the NGO Wildlife Trust of India, said a tiger skin in the international market costs IRs. 80,000-100,000, whereas a leopard skin is worth more than IRs. 30,000.

The NGO is spearheading a campaign against wildlife crime in close association with Wildlife Conservation Nepal.

The haul comes even as India is battling a serious tiger crisis, with reports earlier this year saying poachers had decimated the entire tiger population in the Sariska sanctuary and the numbers of the big cat were fast depleting in other forest reserves as well, the news report said. nepalnews.com by Sep 10 05

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