Python ‘tortured’ for selfie, dies
MIDNAPORE: A six-feet long python died in Birbhum district of West Bengal late on Wednesday after it was allegedly tortured by locals, who wanted to click selfies with it. The incident took place over a month after a peacock died in similar circumstances in Jalpaiguri.
“Though the forest department’s staff went to the spot on Wednesday, the snake died before it could be rescued. We are trying to find out who manhandled the python,” Hari Krishnan, the divisional forest officer of Birbhum, said.
The forest department began an investigation into the incident on Thursday.
Residents of Babuijor vil- lage in Kankartala of Birbhum district, about 218km north of Kolkata, found the python from Hinglow River on Wednesday. As soon as the word spread in the village, many rushed to the river to take a look at the snake.
Some of the villagers started clicking selfies with the python and many, accord- ing to the forest department and local administration, poked the snake with sticks.
Some even held it around their neck and posed for pictures.
Soon the python became weak and could not move prompting the villagers to torture it further.
The peacock met the same fate in Dhupguri area of Jalpaiguri after locals troubled it for selfies.
The deaths are the latest in a worrying trend of people getting close to birds and animals to click a selfie, often proving disastrous for both animals and humans.
A man in southern
Odisha’s Nabarangpur district paid with his life when he tried to click a selfie with an injured bear in a forest in May.