In early August this year, Forest Department officials seized Rs. 8,00,000 worth of ivory from poachers in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal.
Having been alerted to the poachers presence in the protected area, Jalpaiguri Forest Department officials stopped an unauthorised car from leaving the reserve. Five pieces of ivory weighing a total of four kilogrammes was found in the car. Reportedly, the ivory was to be sold in Siliguri at Rs. 2,00,000 per kg.
The arrested have been identified as Pijush Bose of Alipurduar, Gautam Kanki of Buxa, and Ashok Thapa of Rajabhatkhawa in North Bengal. Among those arrested, Ashok Thappa was recognised to be the son of a forest guard in Buxa, while Gautam Kanki was identified as the key operator of the group. According to a Buxa forest official, “he (Kanki) would hire poachers to kill elephants, and has been smuggling ivory for a long time."
Forest Minister Hiten Burman said that the “poachers had killed two elephants at Buxa Reserve", and that that the tusks were “cut and packed in boxes to make its way to Bhutan."
The wildlife trade has become rampant in Bhutan, as various animal parts are being smuggled into the country through North Bengal. According to forest officials, “North Bengal has turned into a safe corridor for wildlife smugglers and is a gateway to Bhutan, as a strong nexus has been made between wildlife smugglers in Bhutan and in India."
Buxa seems to be tackling one wildlife upheaval after the next. The recent nationwide tiger census conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) determined that no sign of the tiger was found in the North Bengal reserve. WII's recent report on the tiger census stated, “Although two tigers were identified in Buxa on the basis of scat-based DNA, the research team has found no signs of tigers in the forest," and added that the Buxa tiger population is declining and needs special attention.
Read More: Tigers Extinct in Buxa?
Source: Hindustan Times
