Jalpaiguri, Nov 10 (ANI): Forest rangers seized five elephant tusks and a part of a rhino horn during a raid in Jalpaiguri city of West Bengal on Tuesday. Acting on a tip-off, the rangers conducted a raid in the Malbazar area of the city. Five men were also arrested on charges of smuggling. Ranger, Belakoba Forest Range, Sanjay Dutta, said the smugglers had planned to sell the banned products to neighbouring Nepal. Dutta added that the tusks and the rhino horn would have eventually landed in China from Nepal. While elephant ivory is widely used for making showpieces, rhino horns are used for medicinal purposes in China. Elephants are often poached for their tusks in India, which is 50 to 60 percent of all of Asia’s wild elephants and about 20 percent of the domesticated elephants. Increased illegal poaching over the years has led to endangerment of the species. On the other hand, the rhinos too are an endangered species due to their rampant poaching.

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