NAROWAL, Nov 23: Sadar police on Sunday booked the district wildlife officer and his four friends for hunting a deer belonging to an endangered species in the border area.

Wildlife officer Zahid Farooq and his friends Nasir, Iftikhar, Ashfaq and Zubair on Saturday night were hunting a deer in the conservation border area. During the game, they killed the deer named Pada, which was one of the protected animals of the area.

Border Security Intelligence officials identified the hunters and seized from them the dead deer, a 12 bore rifle, a 36.6 American telescope gun and the official vehicle in their use.

Later, Sadar police registered an FIR against the accused and arrested Zubair.

The wildlife officer could not be contacted on his cell phone for a comment.

It is learnt that some senior officers of the Wildlife Department are in contact with Border Security Intelligence officials to settle the issue.