The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Blackbuck, eight hares rescued from KSRTC bus

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 20, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Blackbuck, eight hares rescued from KSRTC bus

Staff Reporter

A passenger caught carrying animals in a gunny bag

A LIFE SAVED: Advocate Balagangadharaiah (left) handing over a blackbuck to the police in Bangalore on Wednesday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: An alert passenger on Wednesday rescued a blackbuck and eight wild hares that were packed in a gunny bag and were being transported to Bangalore in a KSRTC bus.

The police said Balagangadharaiah, a Gauribidanur-based advocate, was travelling by a KSRTC bus bound for Bangalore from Hindupur in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

After he noticed that a man was carrying some animals in gunny bag, he made the driver to stop the bus near the Hebbal police station.

Mr. Balagangadharaiah, with the help of some fellow passengers, took the man and the gunny bag to the police station. The police, who opened the bag, found a blackbuck and eight wild hares in it.

The police have arrested Jayaraj (26), a native of Hindupur, who was transporting the animals.

They have registered a case against him under the Wildlife Protection Act.

After learning about the incident, the volunteers of the People for Animals (PfA) rushed to the Hebbal police station and took the injured animals to their veterinary clinic in Kengeri.

R. Sharth Babu, Senior Manager, PfA, told The Hindu that the hares were badly injured.

He suspects that Jayaraj, along with his accomplices, had poached the animals from the forests in Bagepalli taluk of Kolar district.

According to Inspector-General of Police (Forest Cell) K.S.N. Chikkerur, blackbuck is an endangered species protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act.

The punishment for hunting, trapping or killing any of the scheduled animals is maximum imprisonment of six years and a fine of Rs. 25,000.

In March, the staff of the CID Forest Cell arrested two persons in Bagepalli town and seized from them sloth bear and black buck belts.

The arrested were identified as Nagaraju (38) and Lakshminarayana (35), both residents of Kadiri taluk in Ananthapur district. The two were caught while they were carrying the animal skins in a gunny bag.

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