Selfie-seekers kill peacock in Bengal
SILIGURI: A peacock died after being manhandled by villagers, who wanted to click selfies with it, in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on Sunday, police and forest department officials said on Monday.
“We are investigating to find out what happened. What the villagers did was obviously not right. We are also trying to find out how the bird fell ill,” wildlife warden of Jalpaiguri Seema Chowdhury said.
Police and forest department officials have started a probe in the incident.
The national bird entered the Barighoria gram panchayat area of Dhupguri block on Sunday and triggered a frenzy among locals, many of whom wanted to click selfies with it. The villagers wanted it to spread its feathers as some pulled its leg, some got hold of its tail and others tugged at its crest, officials said.
Police officers told the local media the peacock died on the way to the Dhupguri police station. The carcass was handed over to wildlife personnel of Binnaguri by the police.
Forest minister Binay Krishna Barman said he was not aware of the incident.
The death is the latest in a trend of people getting close with birds and animals to click a selfie, often proving disastrous.
A man in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district died when he tried to click a selfie with an injured bear in May.