Men arrested with leopard skins in Rishikesh

Two men were arrested by the Special Task Force of Uttarakhand with two leopard skins and parts on Friday at Rishikesh.

Officials said that the skin seemed to be old, which means that the leopards might have been killed about a year back in the forests of either Chamoli or Uttarkashi district.

"We arrested the two men from the Rishikesh town based on the information given to us. It seems that they were there to sell the skins and claws. It is not, however, clear if two had poached the animals themselves," Santosh Kumar Shah, Inspector Special Tasks Force (STF), told IANS. He said the men hail from Chamoli and Uttarkashi.

He said over six tiger hides and over 150 kg of bones have been recovered by the STF this year.

According to the records of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), over 337 leopards had died in India this year, of which over 125 were poached.

--IANS

kd/sm/vt