India: The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has issued a nation-wide alert objecting to law enforcement agencies invoking the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, in cases of trading and possession of fake animal products. The bureau has also issued tips for law enforcement agencies to tell a genuine tiger skin from a fake one. The alert comes after two cases in Thane last month, where nine men were arrested by the police for attempting to sell genuine tiger skins. Both skins later turned out to be fake, the WCCB said.

The alert reads, “In the recent past, it has been observed that various enforcement agencies are booking offence cases under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 for the possession and trade of fake tiger skin and tiger claws, teeth, etc due to wrong identification. Often, cases are booked by other enforcement agencies for having fake animal products and the accused involved in those cases are also produced before the court of law for violation of the Wildlife (Protection) Act.” M. Maranko, Regional Deputy Director, Western Region, WCCB, added, “law enforcement agencies are not always able to tell a real skin from a fake. So we have issued easy tips to help distinguish between the two.” In one such case, in early October, the Shivaji Nagar police station in Ambernath arrested Rahul Lalwani, Amit Dinanathram, Sanket Irmadi and Satish Bhoir for alleged possession of a tiger skin. The men were produced before a judicial magistrate in Ulhasnagar and remanded to police custody. “However, when we examined the skin on October 11, we found that the skin was fake,” Maranko said. Inspector Hemant Shinde of Shivaji Nagar police station said however, the authenticity of the skin would only be established by a chemical analysis at the state forensic laboratory. “We called experts from the Thane Forest Department to examine the skin before handing it over to the forensic laboratory. We are awaiting its report,” he said. However, K. P. Singh, Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director, Thane Forest Department, said that invoking the Wildlife Protection Act was still valid in cases of fake skins. “Prima facie, both skins looked fake, but we decided to get an opinion from the Wildlife Institute of India,” he said. (Source : Indian Express)