No fewer than 14 hunters allegedly involved in the killing of a hippopotamus in Taraba State are on the run after the state government ordered their arrest.


The state Commissioner for Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Lawal, told journalists in Jalingo that an investigation into the matter had started and the hunters would be arrested and prosecuted.


Residents claimed that the hunters, who were from Mayo-Renewo, Binnari and Shagarda communities, in the Ardo-Kola, Karim Lamido, and Gassol local government areas of the state, were involved in the killing of the animal.


 

A resident, Musa Maikudi, said the hunters killed the hippopotamus at Kwoi River, close to Bajimba village, in the Gassol LGA last week and shared the meat.


Mikuni said, “The hunters secretly mobilized mobilizes in the night and went to the river where the hippopotamus was staying and killed it.


“They dragged the body to the forest far away from the river and shared the meat. The report of the killing of the hippopotamus was, however, leaked by a rival group that was not involved in the killing of the animal.


“The state government has ordered the arrest of the hunters involved and all the hunters are now on the run.”


 

The chief of Mutumbiyu, Justice Sani Muhammed (retd), who decried the act, said the government had warned against the killing of the animal.