(IN): NDTV Untamed animal trade thrives in Mumbai

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Link:

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080038886 & ch=1/19/2008\

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Untamed animal trade thrives in Mumbai

 

*NDTV Correspondent

Friday, January 18, 2008 (New Delhi)

Mumbai's Crawford market is perhaps the city's oldest market, owned by the

municipality, where private vendors sell everything from vegetables, to

fruits, to pets.

 

But as hidden cameras found out, there's a dark ugly side hidden behind the

sturdy walls. A bustling illegal but blatantly open trade in endangered

animals.

 

As NDTV went around the market, pretending to be on the hunt for an exotic

pet, shopkeepers offered star tortoises, smuggled in from Singapore. Star

turtles are a critically endangered species and are used in Chinese cooking.

The price of this rare breed on the international market is 6000 rupees,

while in the Crawford market; it is available for a princely sum of 20,000

rupees.

 

Years of trafficking have led to their extinction in countries like Burma,

where they were once found in abundance. Also on offer African Grey Parrots,

illegally brought in from West Africa.

 

The African Grey Parrot's numbers despite anti-poaching efforts have been

dwindling in the forests of Cameroon, Kenya and Uganda. The exotic birds are

pegged at 48,000 rupees in the international market, while in Crawford they

go for 40,000 rupees.

 

The trade in these species helped the military finance the war in the DR

Congo and is banned under international laws, but here's its openly being

traded. As are other birds like Eagles, Cockatiels and Budgeries, all

illegal and for sale as pets.

 

Also under threat and ready for sale is the common Indian green parrot, a

protected species under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, just like the

mongoose.

 

Even more shocking is what is offered to behind closed doors, by not one but

several shop owners.

 

*Trader:* Do you want a tiger cub? We can get it for you.

 

*NDTV:* Do you have one to show?

 

*Trader:* No, we don't keep them here. But we can deliver it wherever you

want us to, outside Mumbai.

 

*NDTV:* How much will it cost?

 

*Trader:* 3 lakh rupees. We will home deliver it. Just make sure you hide

it. We can get you anything you want.

 

A boisterous claim that is made literally across the street from the police

commissioner's office, a stone's throw from the municipality that owns the

market.

 

But it's not just the well-organized trade that is worrying; it's also the

ruthless conditions in which these protected species are kept. Birds, dogs,

exotic animals held in cages much too small even for a single animal.

 

Activists say many die even before they are bought, but ask the shop keepers

and they flatly deny it.

 

 

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United against elephant polo

http://www.stopelephantpolo.com