Five tiger poachers, including notorious poacher Vakil alias Kala Bawaria, who is also wanted for tiger poaching in the Melghat tiger reserve in Maharashtra, were arrested in a joint operation carried out by the Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh forest departments on Sunday.
The five were arrested from the Mahof range of Pilibhit forest division in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh from where the flesh and innards of the tigress they had poached were also recovered.
According to the Kumaon circle, chief conservator of forests, Param Jit Singh, based on inputs from wildlife NGOs Wildlife Protection Society of India, EFFECT and Eye of the Tiger, the department staff was searching for the poachers who were said to have entered the forests from Khatima in the Terai East forest division.
"We had been searching for them since October 31 and managed to nab them on Sunday. Based on information provided by them, the flesh of the tigress poached in Pilibhit was unearthed from Mahof and the sticks they used to beat the ensnared tiger to death were recovered," he said.
Wildlife NGO members, Haldwani SDO Prakash Arya and staff of Uttarakhand and UP forest departments were involved in the operation.
Terai East divisional forest officer Parag Madhukar Dhakate said that those arrested include Haryana resident Vakil, Najibabad resident Bunty Nath, Khatima resident Mohammed Shahid, Haridwar resident Mastu Nath and Haldwani resident Salim."The flesh recovered has been sent to Indian Veterinary Research Institute for test and the five have been booked under the Wildlife
Protection Act. Since Vakil is also wanted in Maharashtra, we are coordinating with that State's forest department. The culprits are being interrogated and raids are being conducted in search of the pelt which is believed to be in Haldwani," he said.
Dr Abhishek Singh of EFFECT said that the poachers had killed the tigress on October 4, skinned her and consumed the liver and heart of the tigress before burying her flesh to hide traces of the crime.