Locals in Patuakhali and elsewhere in the south are hunting foxes indiscriminately, threatening this wild animal. They claim eating fox meat relieves rheumatic pain, but health experts call this a superstition.

Recently in the Dhankhali area of Kalapara upazila, Patuakhali, a few local young men were seen preparing four foxes to eat. The animals had taken refuge in the village after tidal water flooded the surrounding forest, and were hunted.

Speaking to them, it emerged that a local Hindu family had taken two of the foxes, and boys from the area's senior and junior batches had shared the other two. The foxes were hung from a roadside tree and skinned, and the meat was to be shared out.

People in the area believe fox meat relieves rheumatic pain and other ailments, and wild animals are being killed because of it. The meat is shared and eaten together at a festive meal.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, several young men told Jagonews that since childhood they had seen elders in the area catch foxes and share the meat. It is widely believed locally to work well for the joint pains of older people, and from that belief they too hunt foxes now and then.

Doctors, however, say fox meat contains nothing that can relieve human pain. Patuakhali civil surgeon Dr SM Kabir Hasan said: "This is entirely a false belief, a superstition. There is no special ingredient in fox meat that would act as medicine for any human disease. On the contrary, eating it could cause new diseases."

Religious leaders also say the fox is a completely forbidden animal in Islam and its meat is not halal under any circumstances.

Maulana Abu Sayeed, president of the Patuakhali district imam council, said: "The Quran and Hadith clearly state which animals may and may not be eaten. Islam does not support hunting predatory animals or eating their meat under any circumstances. It is entirely haram food."

Shafiqul Islam, divisional forest officer of the Patuakhali coastal forest division, said: "Under the Wildlife Conservation Act, hunting foxes is a punishable offence. Many may be doing it unknowingly. We will take steps to make people in that area aware."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.