India: Foresters in Belgavi and Dandeli have stumbled upon a major wildlife racket involving pangolin (ant eater) meat and scales. In separate raids in the last two days, sleuths have arrested six people and have recovered 13 kg of pangolin scales and 15 kg of meat.

Pangolin scales are in high demand from traditional medicine makers in China and other countries where the scales are used for making ornaments. Unconfirmed reports say that the scales are also used in making bulletproof jackets.

In the first case, foresters from Belgavi division arrested one Altaf and his associate in Khanapur town of Belgavi district, on Saturday evening. Altaf hails from Tamil Nadu and often visits Khanpur to take the scales. Altaf told foresters that he purchases the scales from forest areas in Uttara Kannada, especially in and around Dandeli and Haliyal from poachers for `5,000 to `10,000 per kg. It is said before the contraband makes it way to China, a kg of pangolin scale could fetch close to `1 lakh.

On Sunday, based on a specific information, the forest team from Haliyal division raided a house in Vitnal near Dandeli and recovered freshly hunted pangolin. They arrested four people who were later produced in a court. All the four accused - Timnu Katrot, Jyotiba Dekne, Balachandre Avane and Satish Patil hail from Vitnal. The accused had gone to the forest on the pretext of fishing and returned home with a pangolin.

Pangolins are slow moving creatures and live in burrows. Poachers smoke the burrow and force the mammal to crawl out. The animal is thrown in boiling water before it is skinned for its scales. Wildlife activists in Dandeli say earlier the areas around Dandeli used to have pangolins moving in groups of three to four. But today, mostly solitary pangolins are found, pointing out the alarming decrease of the species.

“Strict enforcement and follow up of individual cases is  important,” said P M Muthanna, a wildlife conservationist. “The foresters and wildlife activists are able to track the racket only since a few years. In 2013, the state saw the biggest haul of pangolin scales recovered in Bhadra Tiger Reserve, where two people from Tamil Nadu were caught carrying 25 kg of scales. It takes at least 10 pangolins to collect that much of scales,” he said.

“There is a systematic network operating in smuggling the pangolin scales out of India, but the Forest department is unable to join the dots. It is a well established fact that pangolin scales from Dandeli reach Khanapur and they are later taken to Tamil Nadu. We need to break the racket so that wildlife areas are free from poaching,” he added.

(Source: New Indian Express)