PORT MANSFIELD, Texas – Texas Game Wardens arrested three people after revealing an illegal hunting scheme, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
According to a news release, a Port Mansfield outfitter and two others used airboats and thermal optics to take clients on hunts to find Nilgai on private property in South Texas.
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Nilgai is native to India and Pakistan and was imported to Texas in 1920.
The majority of the Nilgai population are on large ranches in Kenedy and Willacy Counties in South Texas, according to TPWD.
TPWD said the people operated a sophisticated scheme and profited from illegal activity.
The people were charged with hunting exotic animals without landowner consent, theft of exotic livestock and engaging in organized criminal activity, the release said.
“The arrests were the result of a nearly year-long investigation by Texas Game Wardens in the Rio Grande Valley area,” the release stated.
The Texas Game Warden Rural Operations Group and Homeland Security Investigations assisted in the arrests.
