Tiger poacher accused of eating bear penises arrested
Fugitive found after six-year-long manhunt across India
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Your support makes all the difference.One of India’s most wanted men, who allegedly killed tigers and ate the genitals of sloth bears, has been captured after six years on the run.
The man, known only as Yarlen, is believed to be an animal poacher. He reportedly told police officers that he became a poacher at the age of 15.
Yarlen confessed to killing several tigers and sloth bears as well as hundreds of wild boars and peacocks, according to The Times of India.
Wildlife officials started hunting Yarlen in 2013 after people found the carcasses of killed sloth bears. The poacher had sliced off the animals’ penises.
Yarlen was arrested over the allegations in 2014 but disappeared while on bail.
A special investigative team tracked the fugitive down to a shanty built beside a motorway in the state of Gujarat.
He was arrested on 19 October and confessed to some crimes during interrogation.
The poacher reportedly said he killed some sloth bears to eat their genitals, which he believed were an aphrodisiac.
Sloth bears are protected by Indian laws and are classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The species are barred from being sold by the Convention on International in Endangered Species (CITES).
But they are often targeted illegally for their gallbladders, which are widely used in traditional medicine in east Asia.
“Gall bladder bile is more expensive than narcotics in the black market,” an anonymous source told The Times of India.
Some tribes in India also reportedly believe that sloth bear penises can be used to cure impotency.
“Yarlen seems to have killed [bears] on orders from businessmen. He has sold gall bladders too,” a police officer said.
“He has supplied articles to international markets, but his reach was up to Delhi,” the officer added.
“He is [unaware] of links across the borders.”
Officers seized several fake identity documents from the poacher during the raid.
Yarlen reportedly confessed to killing a tigress in Pench Reserve, one of the most famous tiger reserves in India.
The animal disappeared in February 2012 and its skin was found in Nepal a year later, triggering a large cross-border manhunt involving Interpol.
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