Four days after a large number of endangered Olive Ridley turtles and cobras were discovered from a courier consignment in Agra, another huge quantity of other protected animals and plants were found abandoned in a remote part of the city yesterday.

The material includes rare pitcher plants (100), stingrays (150), octopuses (100), starfish (200), seahorses, sponges, corals, frogs (Rana tigrina) (200), dogfish and scorpions.

Seahorses and stingrays are protected under Schedule-I of the Wildlife Protection Act, while sponges are banned under Schedule-III and Rana tigrina is banned under Schedule-IV. Pitcher plant, a rare insecticide plant found only in the Northeast, is protected under Schedule-VI, which is a special Schedule for plants.

The material was found Ashok Sharma a Section Officer with the Forest Department from behind Red Fort in the outer part of the city.

The Forest Department is speculating that the entire material has been abandoned by the traders who deal in scientific products. “We had a meeting with the Scientific and Traders Association of Agra today where we informed them about the implications of trading in banned wildlife. The traders might have abandoned all the illegal stuff in their possession,” said SP Yadav, the Divisional Forest Officer of Agra.

About 10 traders belonging to the association had met the DFO earlier in the day and submitted a written declaration that they do not trade in any endangered species. “Most of us have no idea which species is protected and which is not. We deal in wildlife according to the demand generated from schools and colleges,” said a trader on condition of anonymity.

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