Bhubaneswar, India:In a major crackdown on illegal possession of scheduled wildlife species and their unlawful display on social media, the Wildlife Wing of the Forest Department on Monday arrested a man from Bhadrak, with millions of followers on different digital platforms, for allegedly possessing two snakes and sharing the rescue videos of the reptile on internet in violation of Wildlife Protection Act - 1972. The accused has over 2.82 million followers on YouTube and 1.44 lakh on Facebook.

Forest officials said the accused claimed to be a trained snake rescuer, illegally possessed two monocled cobras, a scheduled species protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, during a raid by the Bhadrak wildlife division. Besides, his regular posts on social media platforms such as YouTube and Facebook also violated the Wildlife Protection Act, they said.

The state government issued an order on March 15 making it clear that people posting selfies, photographs and other such materials with scheduled wildlife species, their body parts or trophies amounts to a violation of the Wildlife Protection Act and is a punishable offence with imprisonment up to seven years.

Source: (The New India Express)