Tiger skins seized in Haryana, 5 held

Five tiger skins, worth Rs 1.5.crore, were seized from five wildlfe smugglers arrested in this Haryana town, an official said on Wednesday. Working on a tip-off, police laid a trap near the Panipat bus-stand late Tuesday and arrested the five, busting the gang. "We intercepted a


car, which was coming from Delhi side, Tuesday night and made the recovery of tiger skins. One skin is of an adult tiger while four are of cubs. We have also arrested five occupants of the car," Additional superintendent of Police Pankaj Nain said.
He said that the five revealed that the skins were from from a Delhi-based smuggler Sudarshan alias Bittu and were supposed to be handed to another smuggler in Haryana.

"This gang was active in this region for the last many months. Their interrogation is on and we expect more arrests in the coming days," Nain said.

The arrested men were identified as Irfan, Pawan (both residents of Delhi), Ashok Kumar, Sunil Gupta and Ram Narayan (from different parts of Haryana).

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Tiger-skins-seized-in-Haryana-5-held/Article1-723383.aspx

Tiger Task Force suggestions still hanging fire: Ecologist

Panaji, Jul 19 (PTI) The recommendations given by the Tiger Task Force are still awaiting implementation by the Centre, a senior member of the panel said today. "The Task Force, among other things, had recommended that the management of Tiger Reserves should be made much more participatory and people-friendly," Madhav Gadgil said here. "But the recommendations of Tiger Task Force are not at all being implemented," said Gadgil, who now heads Ministry of Environment nd Forests' (MoEF) panel on Western Ghats. The Task Force was formed by the Centre in 2005 to suggest ways to increase the number of tigers and improve their natural habitat. "I am not happy with the rigid regulatory approach of the Forest Department," said the noted environmentalist. Gadgil was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a youth convention on environment and development. MoEF has asked the Goa Government to send a proposal on declaring Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve. In this regard, Gadgil said "It has to be decided by the State Government as to what kind of participatory process local people will be involved with." Rubbishing contention that people's presence in the reserves would affect the tiger habitat, he said preservation of sacred groves (forest fragments) is the best way to prove that people's participation can do wonders. "In the Western Ghats, the sacred groves are the best example of preservation of bio-diversity. They are not protected by government but by the people," he added.
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