TURA: A youth from South Garo Hills, who caught and killed an endangered civet cat and displayed its picture on social media, has been arrested on Saturday.
The accused, Singsrang Ch Momin of Adinggre village, post office Nilwagre under Baghmara block jurisdiction, is said to have caught the baby civet cub in a trap in the jungle and later killed it for consumption.
The cat locally known as ‘Matchuri’ is high in the endangered species group.
To display his catch, he had posted the picture of the dead cub to his former girlfriend on a Facebook post. She in turn posted it on her FB which soon went viral.
Wildlife officials from Tura picked up the trail and immediately swung into action.
Using the services of cyber technology, they soon zeroed in on the girl and caught up with her at Bollonggre village of West Garo Hills.
She revealed to the wildlife officials that it was her former boyfriend hailing from South Garo Hills who had sent the pictures to her.
The Divisional Forest Officer in Baghmara was alerted and a team of wildlife and police was dispatched to Adinggre to apprehend the accused.
When the team arrived at the village, the accused went absconding but was nabbed the next morning.
He has since been charged with the capture and killing of an endangered species under the Wildlife Protection Act.
There are two types of civet cat, locally known as ‘Matchuri’ and ‘Bijari’, which were once found in abundance in the Garo Hills. Sadly, widespread poaching of the animal for its meat and skin has now pushed it to the brink of extinction in the region.
