Four leopard skins and as many as 25 claws of the animal have been seized in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh in a series of raids over the past two days. The skins were seized from tribals who used to poison the animal instead of hunting it in the forest.

“In a joint operation conducted by the Andhra Pradesh Police and the state Forest Department with the help of wildlife NGOs from Delhi, the skins were seized from various villages on a road from Adilabad to Utnoor, which is an insurgency area. Eight people, all experienced traders in wildlife material, have been arrested,” the Divisional Forest Officer of Kagaznagar in Adilabad district, B Nagnath, told the The Indian Express.

All the accused belong to Gonda tribe, which stays in the vicinity of Adilabad Forest Range. According to Nagnath, the tribals in village Jainoor and surrounding villages of Caramarie, Capri and Asifabad are not actual hunters but they kill the animal in a simpler way whenever one ventures near the village.

“Andhra Pradesh has a rich wildlife so the leopards can often be seen in croplands. However, the tribals here are not traditional hunters but opportunist poachers. Since the middleman pays them Rs 3000-4000, they add poison in their water holes. Two of the accused even admitted to poisoning the leopards with a cement compound,” said Kartick Satyanarayan of the NGO Wildlife SOS.

Another way of killing the animal is by poisoning it's kill. “The leopard leaves it's kill in a safer location after having its share for the day. It returns only after a day or two to eat it. In the meantime, these people poison it,” said Jose Louies from the same NGO.

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