Man arrested for poaching dugong in Tamil Nadu

RAMANATHAPURAM: The forest department has arrested a 30-year-old man and is on the lookout for his 25-year-old brother for poaching a

dugong

and cutting it into pieces to sell its meat at

Thondi

in

Ramanathapuram

district of Tamil Nadu on Friday.


“We seized 300 kg of meat of the female that is protected under Schedule I of The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972,” Ramanathapuram forest range officer B Jabez told TOI.

The officer said that the animal would have weighed more than 400 kg and that it was to be sold for Rs 600 to Rs 800 per kg. Inquiry by the department personnel revealed that the docile animal was caught using net from the boat by V Rakappan, 30, of Nambuthalai and his brother V Palani, 25, around 12.45 am on Friday.

The brothers brought it to shore around 2am and they cut to pieces with the help of a couple of people and kept the meat in a thermocol box for sale in a fish stall on the Dharga Street in MGR Nagar, Thondi.

Based on a tip-off the forest department personnel with the help of a couple of persons known to them, posing as buyers, went to the fish stall to buy dugong meat and surrounded the place.


While Palani managed to escape, Rakappan was arrested. The brothers were booked in seven sections of The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.