Click to play videoSrinagar: A mysterious owl search is keeping the rumour mills abuzz in Kashmir – is this a hunt for an owl or is it the hunt for Osama bin-Laden?
As the winter sun sets in Kashmir, people hurry towards the warmth of their homes except Mushtaq and his friends in a village close to Srinagar.
They are out looking for a three kg owl which, it is said, will fetch a cool Rs 30 lakhs.
But who is this man who travels from village to village searching for that perfect owl?
No one knows. Not even Mushtaq.
"Hum ne shaher ke news sunhi hai ki agar koi aadmi 3 kilo ka uloo pakdega to hum usko 30 lakh ka inaam daingay to mujhe aaj ek hafta (1 week) hogaya uloo dhoondney main humne do uloo pakday who aada aada kilo ke niklay thay to hum aaj sham to paanch aadmi hain. To agar aaj sham ko who ullo mila to hum usko zaroor phone kariengay…hum ko usanay Rs.1000 advance diya tha, (We heard that if someone fetches an owl weighing three kg, then he will get an reward of Rs 30 lakh)," said Mushtaq.
Odd rumors tend to spread quickly in Kashmir. The talk has jumped to the Internet, spawning many theories, including those that claim the owl-hunt is actually a hunt for Osama bin-Laden, or perhaps a secret foreign-funded research project. Wildlife officials say they are investigating the case.
"There must be something some mischief behind this we don't have any research as such any owl will be of so much of cost of what use it will be made will try to find out from those newspapers and news agencies which had carried out this story at least who is this person who is going to buy these, there may be something some mischief behind this," said Jammu and Kashmir Chief Wildlife Warden Farooq Gilani.
But regardless of what officials say, people are catching owls, keeping them in their homes and even feeding them meat in the hope that they may weigh three kg one day and fetch them a bumper price from the mysterious buyer.
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