Nearly a week after animal hides were confiscated from a duo selling them at Andheri (West), the Amboli police have confirmed that one of the skins was of a Blackbuck, an animal protected in India under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. The other skin was identified to be “fake or not belonging to any protected species”, the police said.

On September 5, the Amboli police had arrested Rahul Bhosle (25) and Naseer Chavan (22) for selling animal skins at Veera Desai Road, Andheri. Preliminary tests had indicated that the hides belonged to a tiger and a deer— both banned for trade under the Wildlife Protection Act.

K Gamande, senior inspector of Amboli police station said, “We had sent the skins for formal identification to a private clinic in Pune. The report identifies the deer skin but states that the tiger hide is a fake one.”

The tests were initially supposed to be conducted at the Borivli National Park, however, Ghamande said they were later advised to send it to an independent clinic in Pune. The skins were then sent to the lab of Dr M S Pradhan, a former scientist of the Zoological Survey of India.

Pradhan said, “We have done routine tests studying the fur colour and the skull characteristics of the two hides. One is brownish in colour with white stripes on the belly. We have concluded that it belongs to a female Blackbuck. As for the other, we couldn’t identify it as any scheduled animal. The black stripes were painted.”

... contd.