Over 4,000 valuable animal parts burned to ashes

Nepal: Thousands of valuable animal skins and other parts, stored for about 20 years after they were seized from poachers, were destroyed on a huge pyre in the Chitwan National Park (CNP) on Monday, in a symbolic gesture of the country’s commitment against wildlife trade and poaching.

More than 4,000 animal parts, including tiger skins and rhino hides, were burned into a huge bonfire at the CNP headquarters in Kasara at a programme on Monday coinciding with International Day for Biological Diversity. According to the CNP administration, various parts of 48 species of animals were torched.

Rhino horns; tiger, leopard, snow leopard, red panda and python skins; tiger claws; pangolin scales; musk deer glands; bear galls; leopard bones; elephant tail hair; tortoise scales and sea horses among others were destroyed. The stockpile included 357 rhino horns, 67 tiger skins, 418 pieces of leopard pelt and 412 parts of various animals.

Ten rhino horns and five tiger skins, however, were not destroyed on Monday. Conservationists said they have been bar-coded and saved for investigation and research.