Two Men Arrested In Tamil Nadu For Allegedly Harrasing State Animals
Update: 2023-01-13 20:30 IST
Two Men Arrested In Tamil Nadu For Allegedly Harrasing State Animals
Two males from Kerala were recently detained by the Forest Department on suspicion of harassing a Nilgiri tahr, the state animal of Tamil Nadu, on the ghat section of the Pollachi-Valparai Road. The occurrence took place inside the boundaries of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve's Pollachi Forest Range.
After a picture of one of the suspects was extensively shared on social media and showed him tugging a tahr by its horn, ATR authorities initiated an inquiry to find the culprits. A special squad led by Pollachi forest range officer V. Pugalendhi also utilised footage from security cameras at the Forest Department check point in Aliyar to identify the registration number of the accused's sport utility vehicle.
On January 11, the Department filed a case under the Wild Life Act of 1972 in relation to the event and secured arrest warrants from a court. It was discovered that the event took place on January 5 near the sixth hairpin curve of the ghat section. Other tourists who stopped their cars on the route to view the tahr up close also took pictures of the accused disturbing the animal. On Friday, the defendants were brought before a court in Pollachi after confessing to their crime. They were placed in custody pending trial.
Meanwhile, the Nilgiri tahrs are protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and are classed as "Endangered" in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Department has threatened to take harsh action against anyone harassing or disturbing the tahrs.