Wildlife’s gory videos: Poachers club to death and skin leopard on camera

New Delhi, May 27, 2002: In a completely barbaric incident, poachers captured, clubbed to death and skinned a leopard, all of which has been filmed on a video tape by them. The police have arrested two alleged poachers and the photographer who was filming the gruesome proceedings.

Sources told WTI that the seizure had taken place at Village Shaijupur, District Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh (and not near the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve as reported in a national daily).

The photographer claimed, in a statement made to the police, that a `TV channel’ had commissioned the filming of this heinous crime. Sources told WTI that the footage shows the leopard, kept in a in a small cage, being clubbed to death before the poachers skinned it.

Following sustained interrogation of those arrested, Biharigarh Police has seized two more leopard skins, one skin of an Indian palm civet, three leg traps, one muzzle loading gun, two country-made pistols, about 50 live cartridges of .315 caliber, one Sony Handicam and three pieces of deer antler. Further recoveries are possible.

Sources told WTI “the TV channel that commissioned this heinous crime has not been identified so far, but the search is on.”

WTI trustee, Mr. Ashok Kumar said the incident was deplorable and that the perpetrators have acted in the most barbaric manner, with no regard for the environment.