July 13, 2010
Rhino horn dealers arrested
Nepal Police in association with Wildlife Conservation Nepal (WCN) arrested three persons with a rhino horn. The traders were arrested from Sankhamool, Kathamandu and have been identified as Amrit Lama (22) and Samir Thapa (24) of Sindhupalchowk district and Man Bahadur Lama (50) of Nuwakot district. The arrest was made while they were trying to sell the horn for Rs. 1.8 million. The horn is 21 cm and weighs 1 kg.
Seized Rhino horn
Source: WCN
June 24, 2010
Elephant calf found dead
An elephant calf was found dead in Bahundangi-2 in Jhapa district on Wednesday. Locals suspected that the four-year-old baby tusker might have died of an electric shock. According to Area Police Post, Bahundangi, a herd of about 150 wild tuskers entered the area on Tuesday night and wreaked havoc. The tusks and tail of the dead elephant were cut off when a team of forest officials reached the site.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
June 22, 2010
Two women held with rhino horn
Even as rhino poaching in the Chitwan National Park (CNP), a major wildlife reserve in the country, gœs unabated, police on Monday arrested two women with a rhino horn from Mugling, Chitwan, district. Anita Tamang, 35, of Dandakharka-4 and Pema Lama, 35, of Namtar-6 in Makwanpur district, were picked up with the rhino horn weighing 800 grams and measuring seven inches long. According to the District Police Office, Chitwan, Tamang and Lama where headed for Kathmandu from Makwanpur when they were apprehended. A total of 28 endangered one-horned rhinos have been killed inside the CNP in the last 11 months. The rise in the killing of rhinos inside protected areas across the country has triggered a massive outcry from conservationists. Prahlad Yonzon, a wildlife expert associated with Resources Himalaya, an NGO working for wildlife conservation, said poachers are taking advantage of the country’s system and the current political situation. Despite the presence of 840 security personnel in 47 security posts, dozens of field staff and about 37 villages inside the buffer zone areas of CNP, the rhinos are being killed, he told the Post. Moreover, dozens of INGO/NGOs are working in and around CNP for rhino conservation, Yonzon added. “The existing institutional mechanism should be restructured and effective conservation strategies should be implemented with stratified responsibility of each stakeholder,” Yonzon added. Presently, no one is ready to take the responsibility for rhino killings as everyone is coming up with lame excuses, he added. “Neither Nepal Army personnel nor the park management and buffer zone communities are owning up the unabated rise in the killing of rhinos inside protected areas,” Yonzon said. Narendra Babu Pradhan, the chief warden of CNP, said that due to lack of well-equipped human resources and security posts inside the park area, the rhinos are being killed frequently there.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
June 18, 2010
3 rearrested for 'poaching' pangolin
The District Forest Office (DFO), Sindhupalchowk on Wednesday rearrested three persons, including two Indian nationals, for allegedly poaching endangered pangolins immediately after they were released.Five persons including two Chinese nationals Yau Fu, 48, and Ju Jiangbo, 40, Indians Ameet Jain, 30, and Sunil Kumar Sharma, 31, and Nepali car driver Bhakta Bahadur Tamang, 30, were arrested along with pangolin scales.
The DFO had released the Indians and the Nepali saying their involvement in poaching could not be established while filing case against the Chinese duo. But the three were again arrested by forest officials for further investigations.
Source: Republica
June 18, 2010
Chinese pangolin poachers chargesheeted
The District Forest Office (DFO) on Wednesday filed a case against two Chinese nationals--Yau Fu, 48, and Ju Jiangbo, 40-- for allegedly poaching endangered pangolins.Police had arrested the Chinese nationals last month as they were trying to cross over to Chinese territory allegedly in possession of 46 kilograms of pangolin skin. The police also seized a car (Ba.1.Cha 6503) used by them.
Three others arrested with them--Indian nationals Ameet Jain, 30, and Sunil Kumar Sharma, 31, and car driver Bhaktapur Bahadur Tamang, 30-- were released. The DFO of Sindhupalchwok said that their involvement in poaching could not be verified.According to the National Parks and Wild Life Conservation Act 1972, the forest office concerned can itself prosecute poaching cases in its capacity as a quasi-judicial body.
DFO Investigative Officer Tula Ram Ghimire said that 15-year jail sentences and a fine of Rs 100,000 were demanded against the accused.Jiangbao has been operating a guest house at Thamel in Kathmandu while Fu has a mobile shop at Bouddha, officials said.
Source: Republica
