Chikkamagaluru: Two men from Tamil Nadu died of respiratory distress after they entered a tunnel to hunt a porcupine in Chikkamagaluru's Mudigere. The deceased, identified as Vijay, aged 28 years and Sarath, aged 26 years, worked as labourers in Anegundi Estate near Maliganad.
It was learnt that initially the deceased labourers had gone to pluck peppercorns from the plantation, but later they went to the hills to hunt porcupines. The labourers put up a smoke to drive out the porcupine, which was hiding inside the tunnel. Then, they entered the narrow tunnel and reportedly suffered acute respiratory distress. The deceased labourers remained inside the tunnel for sometime as the porcupine did not come out and got suffocated by inhaling the smoke. Both the men died on the spot, said police.
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Balur sub-inspector Pawan Kumar said police and locals entered the tunnel and took out the bodies before shifting those to the local government hospital for post-mortem. A case has been registered at Balur police station. Police are conducting further investigation in this connection. Porcupine, which is protected under Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972's Schedule IV, is killed for its meat and medicinal uses. Killing a porcupine is considered a crime.
Earlier, a man was arrested for allegedly killing, cooking and eating a porcupine as well as posting a video of this on the social media. Last year, three persons were arrested for hunting a porcupine in the Vadodara. The forest department had raided the house of the accused and found porcupine quills from the terrace.
