Berhampur: In yet another case of leopard skin smuggling case, forest officials arrested a person for possessing and selling the animal’s body part at Balipada village here Monday evening.
The accused has been identified as P. Sushant Reddy of Berhampur.
The night patrolling team of the forest department was tipped off that some smugglers were buying a leopard hide from a poacher. Soon the team swung into action and raided the place and arrested P. Sushant Reddy. However, the smugglers managed to give the team a slip. A motorcycle was also seized from his possession.
Registering a case against P. Sushant Reddy under relevant sections of Wildlife Protection Act, the forest department has launched a hunt to nab the absconding animal body parts smugglers.
The forest officials said they will intensify the night patrolling to check the smuggling of animal body parts.
Notably, Nabarangpur forest department officials had arrested four persons and seized a leopard hide September 13. In June this year, the Special Task Force (STF) of Crime Branch had arrested three persons including the mastermind in connection with the leopard skins smuggling case in Nayagarh district. Acting on a tip-off, the STF had raided a location in Giripuja jungle and nabbed two persons June 7.
Five days later, the mastermind was arrested. The STF had seized four leopard skins, two deer skins and some pieces of animal bones from their possession.
Some animal lovers have expressed their concern over the rising cases of smuggling of animal body parts. If poaching and smuggling of animals, leopard in particular, goes on like this, the Odisha forest would soon be devoid of this species of big cat, they observed.
Leopards are listed in schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and as ‘vulnerable’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red list.
PNN