Mangaluru: A team of nature lovers from Mangaluru were in for a shock when they were trekking on the foothils of Western Ghats near Mudigere. For, they saw around 30 men, many of them carrying country made guns and sickles, roaming near reserve forest at Ombathugudda at Kottigehara to hunt animals, despite rules ban it.

Narrating his experience, Dinesh Holla, coordinator of Mangaluru-based Sahyadri Sanchaya, told that his team was threatened by the hunters when they questioned the group why they were roaming in the forest with weapons.