Harbouring wild animals or endangered species is a heinous crime and it can even lead to an arrest!
In a similar incident, the Odhisa forest department officials have arrested a 31-year YouTuber in Karanjula village of Sambalpur district for illegal possession of six snakes including cobras and four chameleons, an official said on Wednesday.
According to the reports, the accused was identified as Ramchandra Rana from the Redakhole area of the western Odisha district. He made videos with snakes, chameleons, other reptiles, and wild animals to attract his viewers.
Interestingly, the accused has more than one lakh subscribers on the YouTube channel Ramchandra rana.
As per the latest India.com reports, Rana has confessed his crime and shared that he caught these species from different places during monsoon 2022. Rana claimed that he used to release such species after making a few videos for his YouTube channel. However, he denied his involvement in the wild animal trade racket.
Soon after the forest officials learned about the animals’ capture, they rescued the snakes and chameleons and arrested the content creator.
“We have apprehended the youth, who has a YouTube channel with over 1 lakh subscribers. When we asked, he took us to his house, where we rescued six snakes including three cobras and four chameleons,” said Manu Ashok Bhat, assistant conservator of forest (ACF), Sadar Range, Jujumara.
Both the animals have been categorized as Schedule-II under Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and it is illegal to keep them in the house or hunt them. The official also stated that further investigation was on to know whether the youth was involved in a wildlife trade racket or not.
The channel reportedly violates the IT Act 2000. Meanwhile, the forest department officials have also asked YouTube for deletion and appropriate action at their end, as per the sources.
Image Source: Instagram, IANS