Poachers kill crocodile, sever head

India: The carcass of a sub adult crocodile with its head missing was recovered by the field force of social forestry here on Friday evening from river Sharda's downstream feeder canal. Autopsy reports confirmed that the one-and-a-half year-old reptile had been killed by poachers.

The crocodile is enlisted in Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

The post-mortem was conducted at the district headquarters on Saturday. Talking with TOI, the CVO (chief veterinary officer) of Pilibhit Dr GP Singh said the crocodile's head was had been decapitated by poachers. The reptile was not killed by another.

The CVO was of the view that the poachers had probably failed to lift the remaining body of the crocodile from the canal due to some reason and had abandoned it.

An investigator and wildlife enforcement officer of WCCB (Wildlife Crime Control Bureau) at New Delhi, RS Sharadh, said the head of the crocodile would not fetch handsome earnings in the illegal market.

On the possibility of failing to lift the carcass on time by poachers, Sharadh said, "The carcass of a crocodile is quite heavy and needs some mode of lifting and transportation." He added that a complete hide of a matured crocodile was recently been recovered in Nepal and the WCCB was probing whether the criminal activity had a link in Pilibhit.

The WCCB officer said as the carcass was recovered from the canal, it could have been drifted away from the spot where it was killed. "The forest force therefore need to investigate this matter in a broader aspect keeping in view the criminal activities against wildlife in areas situated in the upper stream of the feeder canal as well," said Sharadh.

(Source: Times of India)