Poacher held with tiger’s claw in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW - A poacher was nabbed with a tiger’s claw near a forest area in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur district Saturday, officials said.

Dinesh Kumar, was nabbed by a team of forest officials, who found him moving suspiciously near the Dudhwa forest reserve, some 200 km from Lucknow.

“The claw recovered from him is of a sub-adult tiger,” Divisional Forest Officer Shailesh Prasad told reporters in Lakhimpur.

“Our officials are trying to gather more information related to the illegal wildlife trade from the man, who has been booked under multiple sections of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA),” he added.

According to sources, the man has admitted that he has been into the illegal wildlife trade for nearly last five years.

Dudhwa, one of the country’s largest tiger reserve, had 106 tigers as per the last census.