'Operation Thunder Bird' a big success for Forest Dept

Seventy one people were arrested and a total of 2,524 live species of scheduled animals, 19.2 kg of elephant ivory, one tiger skin, nine carcasses of wild animals, one organ pipe coral, one jar snake venom, eight leopard skins and one Indian Mujtac skin was seized from January 30 to February 19 by Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, coordinated 'Operation Thunder Bird'.

'Operation Thunder Bird' is the code name for Interpol's multi-national and multi-species enforcement operation in India.

The operation brought about a unanimous approach by the state enforcement agencies in the fight against wildlife crime in the country.

There was also an overwhelming response from the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

Preceding this operation, WCCB has convened a species specific operation on turtles, code named 'Operation Save Kurma' from December 15 to January 30.

A total of 15, 739 live turtles were recovered from 45 suspects, having inter-state linkages. The operation brought about awareness among the enforcement agencies to focus on the existing trade routes and major trade hubs in the country, which will be specifically focused in future.