15 January 2007

Police in the Indo-Bhutan border town of Jaigaon, West Bengal, arrested three people on 10 January 2007 and recovered the skins of three leopards and two fishing cats. Two of the accused are residents of Assam, and the third is a resident of Nepal. Interrogations have revealed that they bought the skins from traders from Bhutan. The accused were produced in Alipurduar court on 11 January, where their bail was rejected. A WPSI representative in north Bengal is following the case closely.

There were two significant seizures in the northern border areas of West Bengal last year. On 14 July, notorious trader Ratiram Sharma was arrested with 4 leopard skins, 11kg tiger bones and skulls and 16 kg rhino skins. A few days later, on 25 July, his son Ashok Sharma was arrested with 1 tiger skin and 3 leopard skins.

Across India, between 20 December 2006 and the first week of January 2007, WPSI has recorded at least 10 known leopard mortalities. These include 1 leopard killed in Maharashtra; 4 leopards killed in Panchmahals, Gujarat; 2 leopards (including a pregnant female with two foetuses) killed in Kerala; 1 leopard found dead in Reasi, Jammu & Kashmir, with three paws and one tooth missing; 1 leopard skin seized in Karnataka; and 1 leopard found dead in Uttaranchal with its paws missing.