Myagdi District Police Office seized the hides of two Himalayan gorals and a musket from the house of Bel Bahadur Khatri at Arman VDC-2 on Tuesday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Bishworaj Khadka said Khatri had fled

before the police team reached his house.

Himalayan gorals are categorised as nearly threatened bovid species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

DSP Khadka said only a couple of days ago police had confiscated a leopard skin in the district.

According to the District Forest Office, hunting of endangered wildlife species, including leopard, musk deer, bear, Himalayan goral, Kalij pheasant, and lophophorus have increased inside Annapurna Conservation Area, Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve and Dhaulagiri region.

Officiating District Forest Officer Raj Kumar Thakur said incidents of wildlife poaching are also being reported in community forests. It is learnt that there

are nearly two dozen people who have been regularly hunting wild animals in Rikhar, Simkosh, Bhangechhahara and Sunchhahara areas. No arrest has been made so far.