Forest department officials arrested four persons for alleged possession of panther claws and teeth from Amaravathy forest range on Sunday.
The arrested were: P. Duraisamy (57), P. Mathialagan (25), K. Manikandan (25) and a 14-year-old boy, all farmers hailing from Manjampatti village.
Forest Ranger T. Vijayakumar said that a special team formed under the instruction of District Forest Officer Raj Kumar arrested the accused when they were coming out of the forest with eight claws and three teeth of a panther.
The interrogation of the accused revealed that the panther had been killed by them some days ago in “revenge” for killing their cattle, he added. The panther had been killed by giving it poisoned meat when it entered the hamlet for a second time to kill more animals.
The claws and teeth, according to the Ranger, are in demand for making ornaments on a commercial basis.
“The four have been arrested under the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972, since panther is a Schedule I animal under the said Act and hence, its killing and possession of body parts are banned,” Mr. Vijayakumar said.
