Sylhet wild animal killings: Hunted just for sport

The nine wild animals killed in Sylhet on Friday were hunted just for sport.

They had been seeking refuge on a hillock near a village following a flash flood, before some local youths descended upon them.   

The Sylhet Forest Division today filed a case accusing two named and eight unnamed persons for the killings in Jaintiapur upazila of the district.

Saad Uddin Ahmed, range officer of Sari Range under the division, filed the case accusing Abdul Halim, 25, Md Shahriar Ahmed, 22, and eight unnamed persons hailing from Paschim Balipara village in the upazila, said Shyamal Banik, officer-in-charge of Jaintiapur Police Station.

"They killed the animals which took shelter in the hillocks as the area had been affected by a recent flash flood," he said.

"Whenever wild animals come near villages, locals often catch and kill those. Young people from the village are mostly involved in such incidents," OC Shyamal Banik added.

The case was filed under Section 39 of the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act 2012, the OC said.

Of the accused, Abdul Halim is an expatriate who returned home a couple of months ago, while the other, Shahriar, is a college student, said the Sari Range officer.

Halim and Shahriar are on the run and police are looking for them, the OC said.

On Friday morning, six golden jackals, two large Indian civets and one mongoose, were killed by the locals of Balipara village and later the bodies of the animals were thrown in the Kapna River.

Photos of the dead animals began circulating on social media, sparking outrage among netizens.

SM Sajjad Hossain, divisional forest officer and deputy conservator of forest in the district, said, "Being informed, a team of forest officials reached the village on the same day and after investigating the matter with the help of local administration and police, the case was filed.

"Beside stricter law enforcement, social awareness among mass people is important to stop killing of wild animals by making people understand that they should preserve the wildlife for the balance of the nature," the official said.

Praising the prompt initiative of the forest department and local administration, Abdul Karim Kim, general secretary of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa) in Sylhet, said people in the area have committed similar offences in the past but escaped punishment, adding that killing of wild animals, poaching and selling of birds openly are common practices there.

Talking to The Daily Star in this regard, Saad Uddin Ahmed, range officer of Sari Range, said "No cases were filed for killing wild animals in the upazila before, but one case was filed about a year ago for selling wild and migratory birds in Darbasth Bazar of the upazila.

"Lack of human resources is the key reason for less monitoring regarding killing of wildlife and filing of cases," he said.

"However, we conduct regular drives at local markets in the upazila to stop selling of wild and migratory birds. Over the years, the sales have fallen. We also conduct social awareness campaign among the locals when we conduct drives," the range officer added.