Who is the beast?

In a shocking display of insensitivity, a man not only killed a spotted deer at his "unauthorised" farm in Chittagong but released a video clip of his cruelty online as well, sparking outrage on social media.

In the video uploaded on Facebook on July 4, Moin Uddin is seen first shooting the deer and then slitting its throat with a knife, an act described as a criminal offence by the wildlife conservation authorities.

Amid a storm of criticism, the authorities on Thursday raided the Hillsdale Farm and seized 16 deer.

The farm was not registered with the Chittagong Wildlife Division of the Department of Forest (DoF) and Moin Uddin, a Bangladeshi who lives in Australia, has been asked to submit the permission papers for the farm, according to DoF officials.

'FILM IT PROPERLY'

At the beginning of the 3-minute-40-second clip, Moin was seen aiming his gun at a herd of deer while one of his companions was throwing what seemed like green twigs at them to draw them closer.

"Ripon, film it properly," Moin apparently asked the man who was holding the camera.

Moin moved around for a while with his gun aimed at the deer herd and then pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit a deer on the chest.

Dazed and stunned, she stood still for a moment and then tried to run. But she stumbled, fell on the ground and started throwing her legs frantically into the air.

"Give me the knife," Moin told an assistant impatiently as he rushed to the wounded deer.

A man, apparently a farm worker, held the deer's head still and Moin stooped towards the poor animal with the knife.

"Film it!" he again instructed the cameraperson before slashing the deer's throat.

As the deer's body was lying motionless, Moin's friends could be heard cheering from behind.

"Excellent shooter! … Well done, man!" they shouted as Moin was standing with a broad smile as if he had just killed a ferocious beast out in a perilous forest.

He didn't just stop there.

Moin then started posing with the carcass for the camera, flashing thumbs-ups and his gun. He also invited someone named Matin to pose with him.

"Legal shooting ... Thanks to Mosharraf Bhai!" he was heard saying.

The incident took place sometime in the last week of June, according to a friend of Moin, who didn't wish to be named.

Moin apologised to him for not inviting him to that "party" and promised to take him along "the next time", the friend said.

Soon after Moin posted the video clip on his Facebook page, criticisms flooded in from all corners.

"Killing an animal in a confined place in such a way is not hunting at all. It's out-and-out brutality," a Kalopnik Megh commented while sharing the clip on his timeline.

Another Facebook user Arun called Moin and his friends "a bunch of perverts".

"A sick display of disgusting mentality," said a Tasin Ashraf, damning the act.

To save himself from further insults, Moin apparently removed his post from Facebook but the clip was still available on others' timelines and on Youtube.

AGAINST THE LAW

According to Bangladesh Spotted Deer Rearing Policy 2009, an adult deer can be killed for meat. But the DoF officials have to be notified about it in advance.

But in this case, nobody contacted the local authorities before killing the deer, said Golam Mowla, Chittagong divisional forest officer of the DoF.

"First he [Moin] did a bad thing and then he uploaded it on the social media. It is almost a criminal offence," he told The Daily Star.

"We've raided the Hillsdale Farm and seized all 16 deer found there."

Six deer farms were registered under his office in Chittagong but the Hillsdale, located at Korerhat, was not one of them, Mowla said.

"We contacted Moin Uddin in Australia. He claimed that he had license for the farm. However, the farm manager could not show us any," the DoF official said.

This correspondent tried to contact Moin Uddin on his Facebook account several times and sent him a number of messages over the past few days. But he never responded.