Kokrajhar, April 5: This is a beastly tale in more ways than one.

Every year, during the Bodo community’s Baisagu festival, residents of the villages on the periphery of the Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam’s Kokrajhar district kill scores of animals and cut trees in a bizarre celebration of spring.

The wild animals are slaughtered for the traditional community feast, which is the highlight of the festival, the Bodo equivalent of Bihu. Thankfully, the forest department is trying to end the practice of community hunting this Baisagu with a mixture of force and persuasion. Forest guards scoured the sanctuary recently and found eight bicycles, three handcarts and a cartload of timber. However, nobody was arrested.

Abhijit Rabha, field director and conservator of forests, Manas Tiger Reserve, said the campaign would continue throughout the festive season. “We will have to keep up the campaign as the Bodos and other tribals living in the nearby villages are used to community hunting.”

The Bodoland Territorial Council’s executive magistrate in charge of the forest department, Bishiram Narzary, admitted that a large number of animals were killed during Baisagu last year. “If the practice of community hunting continues, there will be no deer left in the Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary,” he said.

Apart from four beautiful waterfalls in the hills of Chakrashila, the sanctuary is famous for its golden langur population and an assortment of big cats, including Royal Bengal tigers and clouded leopards.

Unlike in Manas, where poachers wield guns, villagers who hunt in Chakrashila use traditional weapons like bows and arrows. Rabha said the only way to stop community hunting was to raise awareness about the need to protect wildlife species.

However, not all villagers are convinced. “Hunting is a tradition for us. How can we stop it?” an elderly resident of the area asked.