Forest dept, WCCB seize illegally traded wildlife body parts in Assam's Dhubri

Dhubri: The Assam Forest department and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) in a joint operation have seized illegally traded wildlife body parts in Dhubri district, an official said on Friday.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of the WCCB and forest department raided a makeshift roadside shop here and seized wildlife body parts of various animals on Thursday, WCCB member Mehtab Uddin Ahmed told PTI.

Altogether 43 pangolin scales were among the items seized, along with four-inch pieces of leopard skin, monitor lizard skin, rhesus macaque skin, 25 sticks of peacock feathers, 17 sticks of eagle feathers, a bundle of sea fan, a barking deer forehead bearing a single horn and a segment of deerskin, he said.

The shop owner, however, managed to escape.

Most of these components fall under Schedule-I species as per the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, including the sea fan, and they are illegally traded for use in traditional medicines.

A case has been filed and the forest department is investigating the matter, an official said.