Clearly, the dealer was well-networked and adept at not only wildlife crime but drug-running as well, both of which make backdoor entries and exits through international trade routes.

And the international nature of the threat continues. Nepal’s Shukla Phanta Reserve has lost most of its tigers due to poaching, recent estimates have revealed. The next target, feel Indian conservationists, will be Indian parks like Dudhwa, along the Indo-Nepal border, an area which has local police deployments but no army patrolling. In order to strengthen cross-border co-operation and vigilance, the Wildlife Institute of India held an enforcement workshop for Nepalese officers in May this year. Again, the perceived threat from cross-border poachers, or demand that works along well-established routes, is very real, threatening, and has to be tackled on a multi-nodal level.

Working on these levels, perhaps enough pressure can now be created for implementing sections under the WPA which say that property built on money reaped through poaching will be taken away.

Meanwhile, the fate of a dead, mummified caterpillar hangs in the balance.

neha.sinha@expressindia.com