VILLUPURAM: A minor boy from Andhra Pradesh was
arrested
by forest officials in
Villupuram
district of Tamil Nadu on charges of
poaching
33
Indian flap shell turtles
from a waterbody near Valavanur.
The Indian flap shell turtle comes under Schedule 1 (part II) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The boy aged 17 years is the son of a nomadic tribal couple, who are fortune tellers from Andhra Pradesh.
The boy said he had poached the turtles to cook and consume the meat.
He was produced before the juvenile justice board, which sent him to an observation home. The forest officials later released the turtles in a river near Kandachipuram in the district.
Police said 20 members of five tribal families from Andhra Pradesh, leading a nomadic life and eking out a living by fortune-telling with their decorated boom boom oxen, reached Villupuram district a few days ago. They were engaged in fortune-telling in the day and used to stay on roadsides at night.
On Monday, four minor boys of the group reached a water body near Valavanur. One of them poached 33 freshwater turtles.
On noticing the boy poaching turtles, villagers alerted the district forest office. A team of forest officials reached the spot and managed to trace the boys to Panampattu village.
The team found that one of them was in possession of 33 freshwater turtles. The team booked him under sections 2 (definition of an animal), 9 (prohibition of hunting), 39 (wild animals, etc., to be government property), 50 (power of entry, search, arrest, and detention), and 51 (penalties) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and arrested him.
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