Karimnagar: Poachers, YouTubers try to expand ‘reach’ with hunting videos
Sircilla-based YouTuber Kodam Pranay Kumar uploaded a video on his YouTube channel (Sri TV) showing the people how to cook peacock curry. The video titled 'Traditional Peacock Curry Recipe' shows the preparation of a curry with the meat of the peacock.
Karimnagar: In order to expand their ‘reach’ among the public and to develop their ‘market’, poachers and YouTube channel operators are increasingly uploading videos of wild animals and poaching activities under the garb of ‘hunting’ on social media platforms.
While some of them are uploading videos of wild animals hunted by them, a few others are posting recipes prepared with the meat of animals which are not supposed to be hunted.
With a section of people showing interest in consumption of wild animal meat, and some people even giving orders to poachers well in advance, such videos are being increasingly used to expand their client base. Depending on the variety of the animal, the poachers charge between Rs.500 to Rs.1500 per kilogram of meat.
While the poachers are trying to expand their market by uploading such videos, YouTubers are trying to increase the number of views as well as customers.
Recently, a Sircilla-based YouTuber Kodam Pranay Kumar uploaded a video on his YouTube channel (Sri TV) showing the people how to cook peacock curry. The video titled ‘Traditional Peacock Curry Recipe’ shows the preparation of a curry with the meat of the peacock. As the video went viral on various social media platforms, Forest officials rushed to Pranay’s house and seized the curry and other material.
On being questioned, Pranay reportedly told the officials that he had prepared curry only with chicken but named it ‘peacock curry’ to garner more views on YouTube. Moreover, when they carried out a search in his house, forest officials found feathers of only chicken but not of a peacock. Police have registered a cheating case against Pranay.
Earlier, a few youngsters from Mallial mandal of Jagtial district uploaded a video of a monitor lizard being cooked on fire and eating it. Based on a complaint from an animal conservationist, Forest officials arrested two youngsters and produced them before court.
Forest officials of Khammam district recently caught a youngster T Vamshi, who was running an Instagram account showing how to trap and kill wild animals.
In July, forest officials of Vempalli from Annamayya district of Andhra Pradesh arrested a hunter Chiranjeevi for illegally hunting wild animals and selling the meat after killing them. Chiranjeevi also shared a video of his child playing with a hunted monitor lizard on Instagram. The video was shared on his Instagram page ‘chiru 1521’.
According to Forest officials, killing and selling of meat and skin of animals was against the Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972. Accepting and eating of wild animal meat was also a crime. So, strict action would be taken against the people if anybody was involved in killing of wild animals, they said.
