Golden jackal burnt alive in Purulia village

Kolkata: A golden jackal, a Schedule III animal under the Wildlife Protection Act (1972), was burnt alive in a Purulia village after it fell into a ditch and injured itself on Saturday.
Some students who caught the perpetrator on camera frantically tried to contact the forest authorities, but in vain. A formal complaint was lodged a day later after a wildlife conservation group intervened, but by then accused Mahabir Mahato — a resident of Ugupiri village under Jhalda police station — was already on the run.
The students spotted the animal trapped in a nayanjuli (seasonal water canal) on Saturday.Before they could organize help, Mahato began beating it up. When the children filmed the brutality, he threatened them. The group returned an hour later to find the jackal almost dead with severe burns on its body. They said they called the forest office, but no help arrived and the animal died.
“We got in touch with Jhalda range officer Amiya Bikash Pal. The range office is barely 500 metres from the spot. When I asked him if he had lodged a formal FIR, Pal said he was waiting for a nod from his superior,” said Raja Chatterjee of Junglee, a wildlife conservation group.
Things finally started moving after Chatterjee contacted senior forest officers. A beat officer went to Jhalda thana, but allegedly filed a shoddy general diary without specifying the act of brutality. “We are probing the incident,” a senior forest officer said.
Police said the statement of the forest department in the diary was not strong enough for them to act. “Since the forest department is competent and empowered to deal with wildlife crimes, we cannot do anything on our own in these cases,” said a district police officer.