On the Trail - Robin des Bois

Poaching of a lion
Samburu National Reserve, Samburu County,
Kenya
September 2013
Lguret, a male lion, was found dead and skinned,
his head removed and burned. 24 hours earlier, he
had been fitted with a radio collar by the NGO Ewaso
Lions. Concerned that they could no longer see
him moving, the rangers travelled to the site only to
discover the carnage. It seems from elements from
the crime scene that Lguret must have stopped for a
rest under a tree. He was hit in the ribs by a large calibre
bullet. He was decapitated and his head burnt
in an attempt to destroy the radio collar which was
worth US$ 4,000. In the past there were stories of
a lion attacking camels in the vicinity. Since it had
been killed, no conflict between man and lion had
been reported. Lguret’s fur seems to have been the
only motive for his killing. An elephant was also
poached in this reserve in September.
community. Henceforth, details on the tactics used
by poachers have been revealed. The poachers
use domestic animals covered in poison to bait,
attract and poison wildlife. A further 3 «big names»
in smuggling were identified by Sarju. Following
these accusations, another famous poacher, Ajit
and his brother were arrested in Hyderabad early
October. They allegedly killed 2 tigers and sold
Sarju the skins.
Bears
The Samburu National Reserve is one of the places
where Joy and George Adamson worked to reintroduce
Elsa the lioness into the wild. This story
told in the book “Born Free» published in 1960 was
brought to the screen featuring Bill Travers and Virginia
McKenna, parents of Will Travers, president of
the Born Free Foundation and the Species Survival
Network.
Helarctos malayanus © Wildlife Extra.com
Seizure of Bengal tiger parts: skull, bones, teeth
and claws (18kg total)
Delhi, India
September 8, 2013
The value of the seized tiger trophies is US$ 78,700.
The infamous Sarju (see August 11), who trapped
or had trapped by others numerous protected animals
was himself caught in a trap near a gym in Delhi
with 18 kg of tiger parts in his possession. He was
in a car with an accomplice nicknamed Lala. During
their interrogation, they said they were employed
by the head of the network, a certain Chacha to
bring tiger derivatives into Delhi. They allegedly
received an advanced payment of US$ 8,960 for
the job. Chacha whose real name is Surajpal was
arrested a few hours later with US$ 74,000 in his
possession. Surajpal has been involved in illegal
trade for over 20 years. He received supplies from
hunter and trapper poachers from the Baheliya
Seizure of 16 black bear gall bladders and 100 g
of pangolin scales
Tengchong, Kunming, Province of Yunnan,
China
July 10, 2013
The bear gall bladders were hidden in boxes under
the wind shield. These food boxes had Myanmar
writing on them, which attracted the Customs officers’
attention. 100 g of pangolin scales where also
seized. The town of Tengchong is close to the Myanmar
border. There are 2 species of bears in Myanmar,
the sun bear (Helarctos malayanus, Appendix
I) and the Himalayan black bear (Ursus thibetanus,
Appendix I). Bear gall bladders are used in Asian
traditional medicine to heal many illnesses such
as convulsions, diabetes, heart problems, kidney
stones… Both natural and synthetic substitutes
have existed since 1954 and are much less expensive.
In total, 75 alternative products (including rhubarb
and peony roots…) can be found that replace
bear bile. An estimated 20,000 bears in approximately
100 farms are thought to be raised in captivity
for the production of the prized substance. Extraction
of the bile, practiced on the live and conscious
animals can be described as torture. A kilo of nonrefined
bile reaches prices between US$ 30,000 and
US$ 50,000 on the legal market.
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On The Trail # 2. Robin des Bois