Two persons were arrested by district forest officials on charges of hunting a Blackbuck Antelope, an endangered deer species, for meat at Kodiakkadu wild habitat near Point Calimere here on Tuesday night.
According to forest officials, during a routine patrol, a team led by forest ranger Ilangovan, saw Karthikeyan, and brothers Somu and Govindan of Kodiakkadu lurking around Kodiakkadu wild habitat. The trio on noticing the officials reportedly tried to escape. However, Karthikeyan and Somu were arrested.
On interrogating the duo, the officials found that the gang had hunted down an endangered Blackbuck antelope for its meat, using country guns and knives. Speaking to Express, District Forest Officer, Ramasubramaniam said, “We are conducting awareness campaigns on a regular basis in and around the sanctuary not to hunt endangered species.”