Uttarakhand forest department officials and police have arrested four people for allegedly smuggling organs of bear, musk deer and poaching Indian flapshell turtles, in two different incidents in the Kumaon region over the weekend.

In Bageshwar district, police officials on Sunday arrested one person on the charges of smuggling body parts of a bear.

Manikant Mishra, superintendent of police Bageshwar said “We had received a tip-off that a man was planning to smuggle the bile duct of a black bear along with organs of other animals. As the smuggler was in the Kapkot area of the district, we arrested him during an operation and recovered two bile ducts of bears and one musk gland of a deer.”

He said the bile ducts weighted 230 grams and the musk gland weighed 23 grams. He said the approximate market value of the seized material is Rs 15 lakh in international markets.

Bear bile which sells for a high price in the international market is used to make traditional medicine giving rise to the poaching of the animal for smuggling the organs.

In US Nagar district, three persons were arrested from Rudrapur area with shells and meat of flapshell turtles.

Umesh Chandra Tiwari, sub-divisional forest officer of Terai central forest division said “We had received a tip-off that wildlife smugglers were planning to smuggle a flapshell turtle. When we learnt that the smugglers were in Rudrapur on Saturday evening, we formed a team to nab them. Three persons were arrested from Rudrapur area in US Nagar on Saturday evening.” The team was led by Pankaj Sharma, range officer Rudrapur forest range.

Tiwari added that the forest department team seized 4.6 kg of turtle meat and eight shells of the Indian flapshell turtles. The accused have been booked under Section 9 (prohibition of hunting) of The Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.

 The Indian flapshell turtle is found in freshwater ponds, rivers and drains and its meat is considered a delicacy, leading to an increase in incidents of turtle poaching in Terai region, officials said.

(Source: The Hindustan Times)