2023-10-24 17:19:17
You don’t mess with tigers. Indian entrepreneur and influencer Varthur Santhosh was kicked out of the television show “Bigg Boss Kannada” after showing off real tiger claws, the media reported on Tuesday. BBC.
He participated in the version of this confinement reality show in Kannada, a language of southwest India spoken by around 60 million people. The program “Bigg Boss”, adapted from “Big Brother”, is very popular in the country.
“We took him into custody”
Varthur Santhosh was expelled after 15 days of participation in the reality show and arrested by local police on Sunday for wearing two tiger claws as pendants, while carrying a part of an animal body is a punishable offense under Indian law since 1972.
Police received complaints from viewers after the contestant showed off the claws around his neck, hanging from a large gold chain, as seen in his promotional photo for the show.
“We went to the set. We requested that Varthur Santhosh be removed from the game and we examined his pendant, it was confirmed to be a tiger claw. We took him into custody,” a local police officer told the newspaper. The Indian Express. The candidate told police it was a family heirloom.
Three-quarters of the world’s tiger population in India
Under wild animal protection laws, displaying animal parts is punishable by 3 to 7 years in prison. Indeed, tigers are an endangered species and the global tiger population has declined by 95% in the last century, according to the conservation organization WWF.
India is home to around 75% of the world’s tiger population, which has prompted the government to take numerous measures to protect the big cats, such as banning hunting.
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