Chennai

“We formed a 10-member team to arrest them. The nomads keep moving across the city and three days later we nabbed two of the gypsies 55-year-old Vijaykumar and 20-year-old Manikam,” said T Murugesan, Forest Range Officer. They were remanded. 

Animal activist Shravan Krishnan said that these tribes were hunting the lizards purely for monetary gains, not for sustenance. “However, the problem here is that people believe that their blood or meat will make you live longer. I think 1 kg of the meat costs Rs 5,000 while the blood was being sold for Rs 1,000 per glass. People who buy the meat or blood should also be booked,” said the activist.

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