Baripada (Odisha), May 10 (PTI) Four persons were arrested in Odishas Mayurbhanj district on Sunday for allegedly poaching wildlife inside the Similipal National Park and a leopard skin was seized from them, forest officials said.

The four persons were arrested near Tongabilla village, said Kapil Das, deputy director of the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR).

The leopard was killed two years ago inside the Similipal National Park, he said.

The seized leopard skin was 2 feet 8 inches long and 1 foot 6 inches wide, he added.

The STR officials posing as traders contacted the poachers on the pretext of purchasing leopard skin, Das said.

The arrested persons were identified as Ganeswara Singh, Subhash Sahu, Khirodh Mohanta, and Ranjit Nayak, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)