Counter Wildlife Trafficking Newsletter
November 2021
Wildlife trade trivia
Illegal wildlife trade in November 2021
In Focus
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Superstitious Beliefs – Another Source of Demand in India’s Illegal Wildlife Trade | The Wire Science
In India, the demand for animal parts in superstitious rituals fuels poaching and illegal trade, and the illegal availability of these parts sustains the rituals. Sanctions to deter such trade have had little effect. Officials tasked with clamping down on such trade also often don’t know what many of these species look like. The international illegal trade discourse portrays the believers of superstitions as ‘needing to be educated’ – but this is really the dominant face of colonialism, a sociologist said.
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News scan (November 1 - 30)
Big Cats
Six poachers held with leopard skin | The Free Press Journal
In a joint action, the Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and Special Task Force (Police) arrested six poachers selling leopard skin and other body parts and presented them in court. The joint team was acting on a tip-off received at Madhya Pradesh Wildlife Headquarters.
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Panna's radio-collared tiger 'Heera' killed, de-skinned in Satna | Times of India
In a major setback to Madhya Pradesh, a male radio-collared tiger on dispersal from Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) got killed in Satna district. It was one among the two frequently spotted tiger siblings in PTR’s Akola range and popular among tourists as ‘Heera and Panna’. Decomposed, de-skinned carcass of Heera was found in the Singhpur range – around 70 km away from the Satna district headquarters.
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More on big cats
Komaram Bheem Asifabad: Tiger poaching case solved; eight held, skin, jaws seized | News Meter
STF, forest officials seize 2 leopard skins in Odisha, arrest poacher | ANI News
Odisha STF seizes leopard skin, arrests two wildlife criminals | The Statesman
Four more held with 10 kg tiger bones, body parts | Times of India
Madhya Pradesh: Slain tiger Heera's skin found in a pond near Panna Tiger Reserve | Times of India
Two held with leopard hide in Mayurbhanj | Pragativadi
Man arrested with leopard skin | The Pioneer
Leopard skin seized in Odisha, 2 held | Sambad English
Drastic jump in poaching of tigers in Maharashtra | Times of India
Tiger skin seizure: Six accused get 4-day FCR | Times of India
Leopard caged by poachers rescued in Udham Singh Nagar of Uttarakhand | Times of India
Two tusks, 42 big cat nails seized by Khariar Forest Division | The New Indian Express
Another tiger found dead in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve | Times of India
Five booked for hunting leopard in Indore; skin, nails recovered | The Free Press Journal
Maha Five arrested with tiger nails teeth in Nagpur | The Week
Birds
Police arrest tantric for keeping brown owl | The Free Press Journal
Tantric Chhotu Maharaj alias Seemanand Giri was arrested under Wild Life Protection Act 1972 for keeping a brown owl, which is a protected species, at his Baikunthdham Ashram located on the Super Corridor. The owl was rescued from the ashram and handed over to the city zoo, while Maharaj was taken into police custody.
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Elephant
Coimbatore: Three men jailed for stealing elephant tusks | Times of India
Three men were arrested for stealing two tusks from the skeletal remains of a wild tusker in the Boluvampatti forest range with an intention to sell them.
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Odisha: Two tusks, 42 big cat nails seized by Khariar Forest Division | The New Indian Express
In a major crackdown against wildlife smuggling, sleuths from the Sinapali range under Khariar Forest Division seized huge numbers of nails - belonging to big cats - apart from two tusks in back-to-back operations.
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More on Elephants
Foresters recover two stolen tusks after five days' search | Times of India
Elephant tusk seized in Odisha's Bargarh, one smuggler held | Odisha TV
Exotic
BSF rescues exotic wild birds from smugglers in West Bengal | India Today
The Border Security Force (BSF) in West Bengal on Monday rescued nine exotic wild swans which were being smuggled into India from Bangladesh. The BSF troops rescued birds of nine exotic species after receiving information about a smuggling attempt in the border area of Nadia district's Matiari area.
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Marine
Police seize 2.36 kg ambergris; two held | Times of India
A police team from Nagapattinam district has seized 2.36kg of ambergris or whale vomit near Vedaranyam. Two people have been arrested on charges of attempting to smuggle the wax-like substance produced in the digestive tract of whales, which can’t be kept or smuggled, under the Wildlife Protection Act.
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Thane: Two held with ambergris | The Free Press Journal
Two persons have been arrested for alleged possession of Ambergris or vomit of a whale in Thane city.
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More on marine
11 fishermen held for sneaking into a prohibited marine sanctuary | Republic Now
Pangolin
Police seize 67 kg pangolin scales in Davangere, nab 18 persons | Deccan Herald
Davangere police nabbed 18 inter-district thieves and confiscated 67 kg pangolin scales on charges of transporting them and violating the norms.
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STF Rescues One Live Pangolin In Bargarh, One Wildlife Criminal Held | Ommcom News
The Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Crime Branch rescued a live pangolin with the arrest of one wildlife criminal during a raid in Bargarh.
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More on pangolins
Assam Forest Department bust pangolin smugglers in a major sting operation | Guwahati Plus
Four kg pangolin scales seized, two held in Khordha | Ommcom News
STF rescues one pangolin in Kandhamal, nabs two wildlife criminals | Ommcom News
Wildlife smuggling racket busted in Mayurbhanj, 15 held | Pragativadi
Red sandalwood
Red sanders smuggling gang busted; 19 nabbed | The Hindu
The Anantapur district police busted an international red sanders smuggling gang and confiscated more than three tonnes of logs that were reportedly meant to be smuggled into China.
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More on red sandalwood
Andhra Pradesh: Task force seizes 1.5 tons of red sanders logs in Seshachalam forests | Times of India
Three held, red sanders logs worth seized | The Hindu
Reptiles
Wildlife smuggler held with sand boa in UP | Devdiscourse
A wildlife smuggler was arrested with a sand boa in this district of Uttar Pradesh. Additional Superintendent of Police Ashok Kumar said Niyaz Ali was arrested from Matiha turn in the Motipur area of the district.
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Odisha Police seize snake venom | News18
The Odisha police have seized 1 kg of snake venom during a raid in the Deogarh district. The accused, Ranjan Kumar Padhi of Sakhipada in Sambalpur district and Kailash Chandra Sahu of Sindurap village, were trying it sell it in the open market when the police held them.
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More on reptiles
Mumbai: Three held for trying to sell red sand boas for occult practices | Times of India
Tortoise and freshwater turtle
Turtle smuggling continues: Forest officials seize 40 turtles from Odisha’s Malkangiri | Down to Earth
Forest officials from Odisha found 40 Indian flapshell turtles (Lissemys punctata) in baskets in an alleged smuggling racket. All of them were released into the Satiguda dam.
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TN forest dept helping Bengaluru cops nab poachers of star tortoises | The New Indian Express
The Tamil Nadu Forest Department is assisting the Bengaluru city police teams in unearthing a racket involved in the smuggling of star tortoises and arresting poachers. The Kalasipalya police rescued 401 star tortoises that were found dumped in two bags at a bus station.
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Ungulates
Five Kashmiri men convicted for possessing Shahtoosh Shawls made from endangered Tibetian antelopes | The Indian Express
A Delhi court convicted five Kashmiri men for possessing Shahtoosh Shawls which are made from the fur of a Tibetan Antelope, an animal protected under the Wildlife Act.
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Other
Gang using tribal people to hunt wildlife busted | The New Indian Express
Two hunters detained under Goondas Act | The Hindu
Man tries to sell fake tiger skin, held in Sangareddy | Telangana Today
Assam resident held with animal skin and scales in Jalpaiguri | The Telegraph
Infographics
Ambergris by Jessica Luis
Illegal Wildlife Trade in November by CWT team
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