News
Madya Pradesh: Tiger poacher put behind bars
January 07, 2009, 3:22AM MT
By Sharon St. Joan
Wildlife Protection Society of India combats poaching
Wildlife Protection Society of India combats poaching
In November of last year the body of a tiger was found in Dudhwa National Park, which lies along the Indian border with Nepal. It was unclear whether or not poaching was the cause of the animal's death.
Smugglers sometimes transport tiger parts through Nepal and into China to be sold. Everywhere in India poaching poses a grave threat to the few tigers left.
A November 19, 2008 report by Avijit Ghosh, TNN, in the Times of India, states that six tigers died throughout India within two and a half months due to poaching and accidents.
The Wildlife Protection Society of India has reported that, in Madya Pradesh, a notorious tiger trader, Shabbir Hasan Qureshi, was convicted on November 11, 2008 and sentenced to serve six years in prison, with a 20,000 rupee ($410) fine. (Madya Pradesh is the large central state that lies to the east of Rajasthan.)
The court case was fought by the Wildlife Protection Society of India, on the Katni Forest Department's behalf. (Katni is a town on the Katni River and is a major juncture in the Indian railway network.)
Qureshi is thought to have traded 600 dead tigers. Putting him in jail will save the lives of the tigers he would have threatened in the future.
The prosecution of tiger poachers is an important element in the fight to save tigers from extinction since poaching is a major cause of their decline in population. Unfortunately, trade in tiger body parts is a very lucrative business.
Recently, in the state of Maharashtra (south of Madya Pradesh), the Forest Department seized six iron tiger traps--preventing the deaths of the tigers they would have ensnared.
Early in 2008, a tiger census showed that only 1,411 tigers were still alive in India. This was a major jolt to conservationists because this was only half the number of tigers that had been believed to still survive.
Since the year 2000, the WPSI has held 100 Wildlife Law Enforcement Training Workshops in fifteen Indian states to address the problem of poaching of tigers and other species. Over 1500 participants from State Forest Departments, other law enforcement groups and from non-profits have attended. Enabling law enforcement to be more effective can be a big step in the war against poaching.
Indiablooms.com reported on November 15, 2008 the Indian government's designation of eight new tiger reserves, bringing the total to over 40 tiger reserves. These new reserves will help to protect the tiger.
Adding some of these new reserves has been controversial, however. In Tamil Nadu, in the south, there were demonstrations by people who feared that they would be displaced from their homes due to the creation of the new tiger reserves.
India continues to face challenges in its fight to protect the tiger--not least among these are both human/wildlife conflicts and the destruction brought about by poaching.
What you can do
To learn more, please visit the website of The Wildlife Protection Society of India
http://www.wpsi-india.org/
To read the Times of India article referred to above, please go to
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/6_tigers_dead_in_just_two_months/articleshow/3729841.cms
To read more about the eight new reserves, please go to India Blooms at
http://www.indiablooms.com/EnvironmentDetailsPage/environmentDetails151108a.php
Thanks to the Asian Animals Protection Network, Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India, and Azam Siddiqui for this news.
For more information on Asian animal issues, please use the search feature on the AAPN website: http://www.aapn.org/ or search the list archives at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aapn
Please feel free to send any relevant news or comments to the list at aapn@yahoogroups.com
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