New Delhi, Nov 19 (IANS) A notorious tiger poacher was arrested in the Champawat district of Uttarakhand by a joint team of the police and forest department, an NGO which helped in his capture said.
Birbal alias Totha Ram, was arrested along with an associate Wednesday after a tip-off given by the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI).

A tiger trap, two deer antlers, knives, skinning tools, a net, two mobile phones and a motorcycle were recovered from them. Totha Ram is a leader of a poaching gang, the NGO said in a statement.

Totha Ram, a resident of Panipat, has been arrested twice before - in May 2003 with poaching tools, and in August 2004 with a tiger skin. WPSI had also assisted the authorities in these cases.

He was out on bail in 2004 and is believed to have been camping in the Banbasa area of Champawat district with the intention of killing a tiger.

“We are delighted with this case, particularly since it appears that this poacher was caught just before he was able to kill a tiger. It is another example of how important it is to stop the activities of habitual poachers, who continue to carry out their illegal activities even while out on bail”, said Belinda Wright, executive director of WPSI.

Totha Ram comes from a family of tiger poachers. His sister Dilpo was recently convicted to five years of rigorous imprisonment by a court in Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, for a tiger poaching case in 1992.

She had earlier been convicted in November 2005 by a court in Bahraich for carrying the skin and bones of a tiger that was killed in Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in February 2005.