Superstition fuels demand for wildlife articles
A wildlife enforcer said the trap would not have worked if the enforcers had used a different cover. The skin and teeth had been sent for forensic examination to ascertain whether they were genuine or clever fakes. (Often, skin of slaughtered goats and calves are finely painted and sold as genuine tiger or leopard skin to unsuspecting buyers.) The interrogation of the suspects, hailing from Tamil Nadu, has thrown light on the growing “superstition fuelled” demand for pelts, feathers and body parts of rare and endangered wild species, ranging from tigers and leopards to monitor lizards, Indian sand boa (snake) and barn owl, in the State, a relatively recent trend, according to enforcers. A set of private profiteers posing as shamans and soothsayers profited most from the racket. They recommended and often helped their impressionable followers procure wildlife articles to make potions or sport as talismans and good luck charms. The enforcers said 50 tiger “kills ...
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