Notorious tiger poacher Totha Ram arrested
18 November 2009 New
Delhi: A notorious tiger poacher from Panipat, Birbal alias Totha Ram,
was arrested this morning in Banbasa at Champawat district of
Uttarakhand in a joint operation of the Uttarakhand Police and Forest
Department with information and assistance provided by Wildlife
Protection Society of India (WPSI). Totha Ram, who is the
leader of a bawaria poaching gang, was arrested along with a local
associate. A tiger trap, another half-made trap, two deer antlers,
knives and skinning tools, a net, two mobile phones and a motorcycle
were recovered from them. Totha Ram has been arrested twice before
- in May 2003 with poaching tools, and in August 2004 with a
tiger skin (this was also a WPSI assisted case). He was out on bail
from the 2004 case and is believed to have been camping in Banbasa with
the intention of killing a tiger.
"We are delighted with this
case, particularly since it appears that this poacher was caught just
before he was able to kill a tiger. It is another example of how
important it is to stop the activities of habitual poachers, who
continue to carry out their illegal activities even while out on bail",
said Belinda Wright, Executive Director of WPSI Other
members of Totha Ram's family are also tiger poachers. His sister Dilpo
was recently convicted to five years rigorous imprisonment by a court
in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, for a 1992 tiger case. She had earlier been
convicted in November 2005, by a court in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, for
carrying the skin and bones of a tiger that was killed at Katerniaghat
Wildlife Sanctuary in February 2005.
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