Man arrested on charges of hunting a porcupine

Alerted by the Aranya Bhavan, the Head Quarters of Forest Department situated in Bengaluru, the Forest Department officials in Kalaburagi, on Sunday, arrested Manjunath (23), a resident of Jevargi, on charges of hunting a porcupine.

As per the officials in the department, Manjunath posted on the TikTok - video-sharing social networking site, a video clip that showed the hunted and smoked porcupine, a protected animal under Schedule IV of Wildlife Protection Act. The video went viral and eventually caught the attention of forest wildlife conservators in Aranya Bhavan who, in turn, alerted the Kalaburagi forest officers.

“We immediately swung into action and tracked down Manjunath, a resident of Jevargi in Kalaburagi district. In the preliminary interrogation, he revealed that the exact location of the hunting was a forest area at Sindagi taluk in neighbouring Vijayapura district. There were three more people with him – Bagappa (23), Bhimappa (19) and Nagesh (20) who are from Sindagi and presently absconding. We have registered a complaint and will hand over Majunath to Vijayapura forest officials who will register an FIR,” M M Vanati, DCF, Kalaburagi,