A pangolin and (below) a porcupine

Guwahati, Sept. 23: Assam wildlife officials have seized a pangolin and a porcupine from different places in the city and hinted at the possibility of they being traded.

Sources said, the pangolin was seized from Geetanagar area on Monday night while a porcupine was recovered from Hengrabari a few days back.

“We are investigating as to how animals such as pangolin and porcupine could be found in the city, which means that there are people who are doing trade in such animals” sources said.

Officials said traders from other parts of the Northeast keep an eye on such rare animals with business intentions.

“It is difficult to smash the racket as we do not have enough force for this purpose” officials added.

The pangolin and the porcupine were sent back to the zoo after being rescued.

Hide of rare animals from the Northeast is smuggled and sold of in foreign countries for huge sums.

The London-based Traffic International — a wildlife agency which looks into wildlife crimes, in its report had stated that artisans in Murshidabad and Varanasi had claimed that their chief source of ivory was from elephants poached in Assam.

Officials said people’s co-operation was required for tracking down of such rare animals and it would be impossible for the department to get information. “We are also on the lookout of shops which sell mutton, where meat of these animals are sold under cover” officials added.

“We used to seize a huge quantity of rare animals earlier but now it has come down a lot as the traders might have changed routes for their business” officials added.

Massive encroachment in the reserve forests of the city has also added to the problem, making it much more difficult to catch the people involved in the racket.

Mynas also used to be smuggled from the Maligaon area to animal fairs in Bihar, but it was difficult to apprehend the persons involved in its trade, as it was not an organised racket.