PANAJI: Forest department officials arrested a resident of Colem in Bhagwan Mahavir national park for allegedly poaching two mouse deer at 4am on Saturday morning.
A gun shot alerted the forest department team, which was routinely patrolling the protected area at Maida, Colem.
The foresters led by range forest officer, Pranay Naik later arrested the alleged accused, Gokuldas Babuso Naik, a resident of Souzamoll, Colem, within the protected area. He was walking back towards the village, carrying a shoulder bag.
Two full grown mouse deer, which are schedule one animals, were found in his shoulder bag.
They also attached the weapon, a detached single bore country-made gun, a two-wheeler, two headlights and a chopper in his bag.
The team heard the gunshot and moved in its direction.
One of the mouse deer had been shot and killed while the other, which received injuries, was stunned with a wooden stick, the accused admitted during interrogation."They are small animals, almost the same size as rabbits," a forester said. The postmortem has been conducted. The entrails of the deer were missing but were later found in the forest. The samples will be sent to wildlife institute of India, Dehra Dun.
"The panchanama has been conducted and a first offence report (FOR) has been booked against the accused for illegal entry into the national park, possession of arms, hunting and transporting the animal," RFO Naik said. He has been remanded to three days custody of the forest department.
