Six held for hunting black bucks, selling pelts, antlers in Koppal

Context: Police forest mobile squad, Mangaluru has busted a racket of hunting black bucks and selling their pelts and antlers in Koppal district.

About Black Bucks:

• Blackbucks are native to the Indian subcontinent, but extinct in Bangladesh.
• In Nepal, the last surviving population of blackbuck inhabits the Blackbuck Conservation Area south of the Bardia National Park.
• In Pakistan, blackbuck occasionally occur along the border with India and a captive population is maintained in the Lal Suhanra National Park
• Ranebennur Blackbuck Sanctuary (119 km²), Karnataka was declared as a sanctuary mainly to protect blackbucks.
• The blackbuck is listed under Appendix III of CITES
• In India, hunting of blackbuck is prohibited under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. The blackbuck has significance in Hinduism; Indian and Nepali villagers do not harm the antelope.
• It is least concern as per IUCN red list.

Reference: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/six-held-for-hunting-black-bucks-selling-pelts-antlers-in-koppal/article32549852.ece?utm_source=udmprecommendation_asidefiller&utm_medium=asidefiller