Wildlife STF arrests poacher with skin of ‘black’ leopard
| Date :06-Sep-2019 |
Melanistic leopard skin
recovered from the accused.
Staff Reporter :
In a special operation on Thursday, the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department Special Task Force (STF) arrested member of a gang involved in smuggling of skin and body parts of endangered animals from Chandan Nagar, Indore. The accused has been arrested with leopard skin that belongs to endangered species ‘Melanistic’ (black) leopard. The accused had been absconding for last ten months and a reward was also declared by the STF for his arrest.
With joint effort of STF Forest Department Indore division and SRF police, Indore, four accused of the same gang were arrested during November 2018. The fifth member of the gang was absconded who is now arrested from Sirpur area of Indore. The accused has been arrested with skin of an endangered leopard. The skin belonged to rare Melanistic leopard which is black in colour. Due to genetic change in the skin of leopard, melanin pigment increases and it leads into black strips on the leopard skin. Sometimes due to high level of melanin pigment, entire skin turns black.
The leopard seems to Black Panther due to this change. Till now only Western Ghat of India has found proof of only one such Morph leopard. The gang members are allegedly involved in poaching of endangered species. STF is investigating the other members of gang.