Man arrested for trading in oil extracted from dolphin carcass

One person has been arrested for trading in oil extracted from a dolphin's carcass in West Bengals Murshidabad district, a senior wildlife department official said on Sunday.

The wildlife department is also working in synergy with NGOs and other government agencies to unearth a poaching racket, the official said.

While the department on its own cannot keep a tab on the entire Hooghly river system which is looked after by fisheries and navigation departments, it keeps watch on any trading of wildlife through its own network, apart from being tipped off by NGOs, the senior wildlife official told PTI.

"We were alerted about illegal trading of oil extracted from the blubber (fat) of a gangetic dolphin by our sources and arrested one man along with the oil in Murshidabad district two days back," the official said.

The arrested person was being interrogated to know who else is involved in the racket in trading of body parts of the endangered species, he said.

"If those involved in this illegal trade are caught, we can also trace those behind poaching of the endangered aquatic animal active in Malda-Murshidabad belt and trace the racket," he said.

READ | Arrested From Nicobar, Myanmarese Poachers Test Covid Negative

The wildlife crime control bureau has been informed about the trade.

The wildlife division and police are working to prepare a full proof case against the arrested man, he said.

The wildlife official said the department has got a report from Human and Environment Alliance League (HEAL), an NGO, about killings of dolphins along the banks of Hooghly in Malda and Murshidabad districts in November-December 2019.

Dolphins are killed for their oil which is used as bait for fishes.

"It is a detailed report. We are going through the contents and acting on it," he said but did not give any figure about the number of dolphins poached in last year.

Gangetic dolphins are found in the Ganga-Brahmaputra river system in India.

READ | Man Arrested For Killing Live-in Partner In Greater Noida

READ | Man Arrested For Raping Nine-year-old Daughter In Greater Noida