Poachers shoot leopard in Palampur; 5 killed in 2 yrs

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, January 20

A leopard was shot dead by poachers in the forest area of Jharet Dhaneta in Palampur yesterday. Sources said the dead animal was spotted by locals, who further informed forest officials.

BS Yadav, DFO, Palampur, said the dead leopard was a female. She was shot and was three-year-old. 

The DFO ruled out the involvement of any gang in the killing of the animal for its hide. He said a case under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Act had been registered against unidentified persons. In the last two years, five leopards have been killed by poachers.

The Kangra police last year arrested two poachers, who were trying to smuggle leopard hides out of the state. The accused were from Chamba district.

The police tried to crack the network through which the leopard hides were allegedly being smuggled out of the state for sale, but failed to achieve results. 

Keeping of leopard hides is illegal under the Act in India. There is hardly any market for leopard hides here. The hides and other parts of leopards, including their claws and bones, have a market in China or other South East Asian countries. The body parts of big cats are used in Chinese medicine. Poachers from the state sell the hides and other parts of leopards to smugglers, who further ship them out of the country.

Due to winter and low temperatures, wild animals are migrating from snow-bound areas of the Dhauladhar Wildlife Sanctuary to the lower hills. However, this migration has increased poaching of wild animals. While in the forests around Dharamsala, wild goat is being poached, in the lower hills, wild boar, sambar and dear are being poached. All these animals are protected under various schedules of the Wildlife Act.

On the outskirts of Dharamsala, gunshots can be heard on periodic intervals, indicating poaching. In the lower areas of the districts like Nurpur and Dehra, poaching is on with various methods. 

Besides licensed guns, traps are being used to poach wild animals. In the rural areas of the district, the poachers lay crude traps made of clutch wire of two-wheelers. The wire traps are laid in such a manner that once an animal is trapped in it, the more it struggles to free itself, the more it gets entangled in it. Jeollen Anderson from the US is running an organisation for protecting and treating stray animals. He said: “These days, a lot of such cases of are pouring in. Stray dogs and cows get trapped in wires set by poachers. In many cases, I have rescued severely injured dogs, cats and pigs and cows.