Poachers held for killing tigers and leopards

Forest department personnel have arrested four persons on charges of poaching tigers and leopards. Officials said the poachers had also consumed leopard meat.

The forest mobile squad took Arun, Nanjunda, Ravi and Ramesh of Ambedkar Nagar in Nellurpala, Hunsur taluk, into custody for allegedly poaching tigers and leopards. The officials seized tiger pelts and leopard skin from them.

An officer said Arun had laid a trap six months ago to kill a tiger.

Later, the four skinned the animal and disposed of the carcass into the Lakshmanatirtha river. The accused had also consumed the meat of a leopard which was hunted a year ago near Hunasekatte.

The poachers were active during the outbreak of Covid-19 as the movement of people was less, said an officer.

According to officials, the accused were poaching animals using various kinds of traps. They used to hunt animals at the Veeranahosahalli forest region, under the Nagarahole tiger reserve.

On a tip-off, Forest officials raided the house of Arun and seized tiger pelts and leopard skin on Tuesday. The officials took all the four accused into custody.