West Bengal, a transit route

Forest officals use a crane to remove a injured wild elephant to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) who according to forest officials was shot at and injured by suspected poachers, near a paddy field at Sapanala in Nagaon distr

NAGAON, 25 JUNE 2014: Rhino poachers arrested along with Rhino horn at Bamuni Tiniali in Nagaon district of Assam on Tuesday night.PIX BY ANUWAR HAZARIKA.Illegal wildlife trade - Anuwar Ali Hazarika

Illegal wildlife trade - Anuwar Ali Hazarika

Poachers arrested with the skin of a royal Bengal tiger in Chirang district in Assam. photos BY ANUWAR HAZARIKA

Illegal wildlife trade - Anuwar Ali Hazarika

West Bengal due to its location is a transit point for wildlife smugglers. Sources in the state’s Forest Department said that most of the wild animals seized here were about to be smuggled to states in western or northern India.

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the latest example of this is the seizure of a lion cub along with two adult and one juvenile white-headed langurs in Kolkata in June by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and the West Bengal Forest Department (WBFD) in a joint operation. The consignment entered West Bengal through Bangladesh and was heading for western India.

According to the WCCB data, birds and turtles form the majority of wild animals seized in the state while they were being smuggled or sold. WCCB and WBFD in a joint operation on April 13, seized parakeets, an Asian koel and a brahminy mynah from a major pet market in Kolkata. A similar operation was conducted at the same place on April 7 when 292 parakeets and one hill mynah were seized.

Within a span of two days - from January 21 to January 22 - 1,732 soft-shelled turtles were seized from different places in West Bengal.