Trapped, killed on CU campus
Locals trapped and killed a porcupine on the Chittagong University (CU) campus yesterday. Mohammad Jinnah, aged around 45, at about 4:00pm trapped the porcupine from a bush in CU, said witnesses.
Tying it up with rope, Jinnah was crossing the building for the faculty of arts and humanities when the prey got off his hold and tried to run away, said Fakhruddin Mehedi, a fourth year student of communication and journalism.
A few of the onlookers started throwing brick chips at the poor creature, resulting in its death, he added.
Later, they took away the dead porcupine, said Halim, owner of a shop near the CU arts faculty.
Contacted, CU proctor Mohamad Nasim Hasan said he knew nothing about the incident.
Sources in CU said some people grow ginger in the hills of the campus. Porcupines often eat gingers and damage their farmlands and to stop that the farmers make traps to catch the animal.
Killing wild animals in CU is very frequent, which is posing a threat to the biodiversity of the campus, said Prof Benojir Ahmed, chairman of zoology department of CU. Nothing but raising awareness among people can stop the wanton hunting of wild animals, he added.
Sources say that because of its natural environment, the university campus is home to many animals of different species, including deer, monkey, wild hog, porcupine, rabbit, squirrel and birds.
The university is situated on 1753.88 acres of land. A combination of various kinds of trees, wildlife and insects has given the university a unique characteristic.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
