A fishing cat, Bengal’s state animal, was allegedly trapped, killed and skinned — purportedly for its meat — by some residents of a village in West Midnapore on Wednesday.

A forest official in Calcutta said a team was sent to the spot, Renjura village in Dantan, 20km from Belda town. “The names of two primary suspects have come up during a probe. Our men are looking for them,” said Ravi Kant Sinha, the chief wildlife warden of the state.

Fishing cat, baghrol in local parlance, is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Killing the animal can lead to a jail term of five years.

The nocturnal animal thrives in wetlands and feeds mostly on fish. Shrinking wetlands has dwindled their numbers and forced them to stray to human settlements and prey on fish farmed in ponds and livestock.

The latest casualty was reported by a couple of local volunteers of HEAL (Human and Environment Alliance League), an NGO that works for animals. “A fishing cat was killed by some residents in the area in 2018. This is a repeat offence. The new victim was an adult male,” said Tiasa Adhya, a member of HEAL, who has been researching on fishing cats for close to a decade.

A volunteer at Renjura said he was headed to a tea stall around 6.30am on Wednesday when he saw a fishing cat trapped in a cage. “A crowd had gathered around the cage. I told the villagers the fishing cat was an endangered animal and should be handed to the forest department. I informed the department as well as HEAL members in Calcutta,” the volunteer said over the phone.

Most villagers agreed to the proposal and the man went back home, only to be informed a couple of hours later that the animal had been killed. The man later called up the police, as did the members of the NGO in Calcutta. By the time the cops and foresters reached the spot, the trap and the remains of the animal were missing.

“The villagers killed the animal to eat its meat,” said HEAL secretary Suvrajyoti Chatterjee.

Arup Mukherjee, the divisional forest officer of Kharagpur, under whose jurisdiction the area fell, said a team of forest officials was at the spot. “The additional divisional forest officer and the ranger of Belda are at the spot for investigation. The local police are also assisting us. But we are yet to come across any live or dead animal or remains of its carcass.”