Kerala: Five people were arrested by the Kerala Forest Department for trapping and killing a leopard in the forest division of Idukki, where they killed the leopard for its meat. According to officials, this is the first case of Leopard meat being consumed by citizens of the place, and the accused who have been identified are residents of a nearby district Mankulam – Vinod PK (45), Basil Garden VP Kuriakose (74), Chempenpurayidathil CS Binu (50), Malayil Sali Kunjappan (54), and Vadakkumchalil Vincent (50).
According to the Manukulm forest officer PJ Suhaib, the prime accused Vinod had fixed a trap on private land around 100 meters from the first at Muipara near Manukulam in Idukki, Kerala. The six-year-old male leopard fell into the trap, they shifted the animal to the prime accused Vinod’s place, where they killed the leopard, cooked and ate its meat.
The skin and teeth of the leopard have been found inside the house and the arrest was made after a tip-off was received.
Suhaib also said that Mankulam range officer VB Udaya Suryan and his team had arrested all accused within four hours after receiving the tip-off. The officials recovered nearly 10 kg of meat from the house of the prime accused.
He also added that these five people have a history of poaching animals and have a craze for hunting which made them go for a leopard this time. They have hunted a pig as well before and ate that too.
