10th August, 2004

One tiger skin was seized by the Uttaranchal Forest Department in Banbasa, a remote town near the Indo-Nepal border, on 10 August 2004.

Acting on information provided by the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), officials of the Champawat Forest Division, led by the DFO Mr. Vidyasagar, seized the skin and arrested one Totha Ram.

WPSI had been receiving field information that Totha Ram was stockpiling tiger and leopard skins for sale to Nepalese buyers. Once the location of the skins was confirmed, WPSI immediately coordinated a raid with the Forest Department, who recovered the tiger skin at 5 a.m. on 10 August 2004. At the time of writing, the team is still searching for the leopard skins.

Banbasa, in Champawat District, has figured in several other wildlife offences recorded in WPSI’s Database. It is only one and a half hours away by road from Mahendranagar, a major business and trade centre in Nepal. In the last month alone, reported seizures from Nepal amount to 4 tiger skins, 8 leopard skins, 4 sacks of fresh tiger bones, 6 rhino horns and 1 sack of rhino bones and skins.