Authorities to destroy decaying parts, preserve others for study
KATHMANDU, June 30: All confiscated body parts and trophies of endangered animals from across the country have been sent to Tikauli and Kasara of Chitwan district for DNA barcoding. Decaying body parts of the endangered animals will be destroyed while some will be preserved for scientific study and research purpose following the bar coding, the concerned authorities said.
“We have sent all the body parts of the endangered animals to Kasara and Tikauli of Chitwan for barcoding,” Narayan Rupakheti, an information officer at the Department of National Parks and Wild Life Conservation (DNPWC), said, adding, “Barcoding helps to identify animals and their origin easily.” He said that DNA barcoding is a scientific way to identify the species.
Disposing of stored body parts of wild animals at CNP starts
According to information officer Rupakheti, barcoding uses short genetic sequence from a standard part. Security agencies, researchers as well as academic institutions have long been demanding to preserve those body parts and trophies instead of destroying them.
Earlier, the Environment Protection Committee of the Legislature-Parliament had directed the Ministry of Forest and Soil conservation (MoFSC) to manage confiscated body parts of endangered animals.
“We have completed computer entry of all confiscated animal parts,” Laxman Poudel, an official at DNPWC, who has been working to manage those trophies and body parts, informed. He said that the samples of the body parts have been kept in a small box and data have been registered in computer.
Armed Forest Guard Training Center in Tikauli and Chitwan National Park’s office at Kasara have stored the confiscated body parts and trophies of the endangered wild animals in large quantities.
Dr Indra Prasad Sapkota, District Forest Officer (DFO), of Kathmandu District Forest Office informed that smuggling of body parts and trophies of endangered animals is the fourth largest crime across the globe after drug trafficking.
