Three carcasses of jungle cats seized

India: Three carcasses of Jungle cats (Felis Chaus), categorised under schedule-II of the Wildlife Protection Act-1972, were found by forest officials of Khurda range on the outskirts of the city on Thursday. Officials have launched a manhunt for poachers, who are suspected to belong to nearby villages, official sources said.

"We recovered the carcasses of three jungle cats on Banki-Bhubaneswar road. Two motorbike borne youth were seen killing and taking them away. When chased by locals they dropped the bodies on the way and ran away. We have their bike numbers and will find them soon," said divisional forest officer of Khurda Range, Manoj Mohapatra.

He said, since there is no history of poaching the animals for any other purpose like eating or using their skins or body parts in Odisha, we are suspecting the killings are in retaliation. "The jungle cats generally sneaked into villages and kill poultry. So the youth might have killed them in retaliation," Mohapatra said.

(Source: Times of India)