Odisha official seeks ban on videos promoting cruelty against animals

Bhubaneswar: In a bid to curb cruelty against animals, honorary wildlife warden of Khurda district, Subhendu Mallik has written to the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) urging for a ban on online videos displaying ways to capture wild animals.

Mallik in his letter stated that the procedures shown in the videos promote cruelty against animals and the bureau must act immediately to stop spread of such content.

Mallik added, "Instructions are available on social media on how to capture wild animals without firing a bullet which is also against the law."

Sandeep Tripathy, PCCF, Wildlife said, "We have informed the cyber cell and asked it to ensure removal of such videos from social media."

Echoing similar views, assistant director of WCCB, Jabalpur, Abhijit Roy Chowdhury said, "The matter has been taken seriously and strict action will be taken against the persons responsible for uploading the videos."

Recently, in Bhubaneswar, a racket involved in selling body parts of a garden lizard was busted during a joint raid by Crime Branch and the Forest department.