SUNDAY, JUNE 08, 2025
Naga YouTuber summoned for wildlife hunting and consumption
Published on Mar 13, 2025
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- DIMAPUR — In what could be seen as a wake-up call for many Nagas who hunt and consume protected wildlife—and even flaunt it on social media, without realising the consequences—the Wildlife Crime Control Unit of Wildlife Division in Dimapur has summoned Kebenhulo Kemp, popularly known by his YouTube channel pseudonym ‘The Roving Naga,’ for offences committed under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
- Kebenhulo, or Roving Naga, introduces himself as Alo Kemp on his YouTube channel. He has nearly 1.5 lakh subscribers and has thus far uploaded 273 videos to his channel.
- Kemp is being summoned for his video ‘Hunting of wildlife & consumption of its meat,’ which was uploaded seven months ago. The content was shot in Peren district. “We had caught lots of fish and had wonderful meal in the jungle. A guy from there brought a snake and we had such a awesome time together drinking rice beer and eating the snake meat (sic),” read the video description.
- The first summon was issued on March 6, 2025, directing him to report to the office of the Wildlife Division of Dimapur on March 11 before 1 pm for offences under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
- As per the second summon letter issued by the officer-in-charge of the Wildlife Crime Control Unit on March 11, Kemp did not appear before the office as directed.
- “Consequent on your refusal and default on the summon and insistence on the cause of issuance of summon, your commission of here below offences contravenes the provisions of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 as under: hunting & consumption of ‘Checkered keelback’ (Asiatic water snake); creating & sharing content on hunting & consumption of ‘Checkered keelback’ (Asiatic water snake); and creating & sharing content on hunting & consumption of birds.
- "Now, since ‘Checkered keelback’ is accorded protection under Schedule 1 Part C, Sl No. 25 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and the state government by notification dated 03/12/1997 had declared ‘a blanket ban on hunting of all Scheduled-1 species’ the whole year under all non-government land. Therefore, you were found in violation of provisions under Section 9 r/w 2(16), 52 of the WL (P) Act, 1972 (as amended by WL (P) Amendment Act, 2022),” the order read.
- Accordingly, the YouTuber has been directed to appear before the officer on March 17 on or before 1 pm.
- "Your neglect, refusal to appear on the said date and time will necessitate action as per the provision of the above-mentioned Act,” the summons letter stated.
- No official statement from the Wildlife Division of Dimapur was available “as this is a summon notice and an opportunity for Kemp to explain himself.”
Nagaland Districts
