Puri: A honey badger (locally known as gaada bhalu) was beaten to death after it entered the human settlement and attacked villagers in Astaranga area of Puri district Thursday.
According to a source, the incident took place in Jaleswarpada village under Kakatpur block early this morning. The badger that possibly entered the village in search of food attacked two people after it came face to face with them.
Instead of reporting the incident to the forest department, irate villagers chased the animal and beat it up with sticks and pelted stones at it injuring it grievously. It died moments later without any treatment.
Worse still, the carcass of the ratel was kept on the village main road as a trophy hunt in full public view.
Astaranga forest officials reached the site much later and took the carcass for postmortem. The honey badger is a protected animal under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, they maintained. That said, it is not clear what action will be taken against the accused villagers.
The forest officials added that the species is found in large numbers in forests near Golara area in Puri district.
Apart from Puri, honey badgers have also been noticed in Chandaka reserve forest, forests near Chilika, in Kendrapara and Angul districts in recent years.
It may be mentioned here that there is no official estimate on honey badger population in the state. Though once abundantly found across the state and a part of Odia folklore, honey badger sighting is more or less rare these days in most parts of the state.
Globally, the species is listed as ‘least concern’ owing to its wide range of distribution. These animals are known for their ferocity, strength, stamina and have few natural predators.