Environment/Science
Biodiversity
WB: Royal Bengal Tiger's skin recovered in Alipurduar, wild elephants kill 4 in Burdwan

Just Earth News 21 Mar 2016, 05:18 pm Print

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)

Kolkata/Alipurduar/Burdwan, Mar 20 (IBNS): Forest guards on Saturday night nabbed four persons with a skin of Royal Bengal Tiger from New Hasimara area in West Bengal's Alipurduar district, reports said.

According to reports, acting on a tip off, forest guards, led by Belkoba Forest Range's ranger Sanjay Dutta, conducted the operation and held four men, who were trafficking tiger's skin to Bhutan. One 11-foot- long skin and at least 280 bones of Royal Bengal Tiger were recovered from their possession.
 
Two of the four arrested are residents of West Bengal and rest two are the residents of Assam and Bhutan. After preliminary interrogation, they were handed over to the police.
 
Police, however, started investigation into matter and the arrested are being interrogated.
 
Meanwhile, at least four villagers were killed and two others were injured by two wild elephants on Sunday in West Bengal's Burdwan district, reports said.
 
According to reports, as many as seven wild tuskers on Friday night entered Galsi village in Burdwan, from Bankura district. Forest department personnel successfully chased away five of them from the village in few hours.
 
The rest duo went on a rampage at Sanko and Chandul areas under Galsi Police Station area in Burdwan on Saturday and injured one villager. 
 
These two elephants on Sunday early morning entered Bhatar area in Burdwand killed two persons at Nasigram village. More two villagers were killed by these elephants at Mandeshwar village later.
 
The forest personnel, however, tranquilized the jumbos in afternoon near Mandeshwar village and are trying to release them to a nearby forest.
 
Meanwhile, those five elephants, which were chased away from Burdwan on Friday midnight, have entered Burdwan again on the wee hours of Sunday. According to the latest update came in, these five have been separated into two groups and are currently staying at Haldi and Khandaghosh villages in the district. No casualty has been reported from these areas so far.