Black magic threat to owls in Karnataka
- According to a belief, an owl’s blood and feathers can be used for casting black magic spells.
- On the basis of this belief, few in Malnad region were capturing owls and selling them for lakhs.
FollowFew smugglers have been arrested with an owl on Friday. These smugglers wanted to sell the owl for a huge amount of cash. The forest department has confirmed that these owls were being used for black magic and witchcraft.
According to a belief, an owl’s blood and feathers can be used for casting black magic spells. On the basis of this belief, few people in the Malnad region were capturing owls and selling them for lakhs.
The police attached to the forest wing of Shivamogga, discovered this fact following the arrest of nine accused in this connection of illegally trapping owls.
Assistant Conservator of Forest Srinivas Eradoni shared the shocking modus operandi of how these people trapped the Owls. "The tribals use plastic wires which are jumbled and a bait like rat of chicken piece is kept, when the Owl comes to take the food, it gets entangled," Eradoni said.
Police have also learnt that a swamiji from Udupi was in regular touch with these accused smugglers. They have also found evidence of several others involved in this trading of owls.
"₹ 2 lakh to ₹ 40 lakh were being charged per owl. Social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook were being used for exchanging the information on availability of owls.
