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Link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080706/jsp/frontpage/story_9511154.jsp

 

Call to let off beetle scientist

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, July 5: Over 600 scientists around the world have signed a petition

seeking the release of Czech entomologist Petr Svacha, arrested in Bengal two

weeks ago for illegally collecting beetles, moths and butterflies, Indian

entomologists said today.

 

A text of the petition, signed online by the researchers who specialise in

invertebrates, has been sent to the Prime Minister, the Bengal chief minister

and Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, said the scientists who organised the

petition in India.

 

Forest officials arrested Svacha, 51, and another Czech national, Emil Kucera,

52, on June 22 when they caught them with some 200 beetles and other insects,

collected from the Singalila National Park, about 90km from Darjeeling. Indian

laws ban the collection of large numbers of insects from protected areas.

 

Svacha and Kucera are expected to be produced in court on Monday when a second

bail plea will be moved. They are in judicial remand at the Darjeeling

Correctional Home.

 

Svacha, a senior scientist at the institute of entomology at the Academy of

Sciences of the Czech Republic, has impeccable credentials as a world-renowned

authority on beetle larvae, the petition said.

 

“We are convinced Dr Svacha was motivated purely by his work and was collecting

beetles for no other reason than for research,” the petition said. “He probably

did not realise that he had entered a protected area.”

 

“The insects they study do not have commercial value. They include major

forestry pests, and Dr Svacha’s publications are of great use to forestry

authorities all over the world,” Max Barclay, a curator at the Natural History

Museum, London, said in an email sent to Indian scientists.

 

The scientists have asked authorities to consider Svacha’s age and frail

condition and release him. The petition does not mention the other arrested

Czech.

 

“We do not know about significant scientific research publications by the other

gentleman yet,” said Priyadarsanan Dharmarajan, a scientist at the Ashoka Trust

for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore.

 

--

United against elephant polo

http://www.stopelephantpolo.com

http://www.freewebs.com/azamsiddiqui

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This incident of a member of the 'scientist' community and that too

an entomologist who are believed to be more qualified and sensible

lot of human beings getting arrested for such an offence in a foreign

country, is just not a stray or unfortunate incident but something

very serious.

More serious for the animal people than the Environmentalists or the

Scientist community which has put up a petition to get the offender

pardoned.

 

A similar incident of a German citizen being warned by the local

council people in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh few

days back when he was collecting beetles/ bugs is just not a co-

incidence, but some more food for thought.

 

Arunachal Pradesh falls under the restricted zone where foreign

Nationals are not allowed easy access.

Only those who apply for special permissions are allowed the permit.

Knowing all the facts why would a tourist dare such a risk?

There must be something we need to explore deep into.

 

Sometime back I had posted an article 'Eating Bugs' which has been

published on the latest issue of TIMES magzine (it was not allowed by

Dr. John for not being Asian specific then).

 

I am posting the article yet once again and would appeal Dr. John to

kindly allow it to be posted and let our rs make the

connection between the following:

 

1. The arrest of the Czech senior scientist with the Beetles, moth,

butterflies etc etc.

 

2. The German tourist in Arunachal Pradesh who was doing exactly the

same.

 

and

 

4.The TIMES article.

 

 

Before I end let me also stress upon one more important thing, the

scientist community and some of the noted organisations working for

environment and conservation have also joined hands in trying o get

the man pardoned.

Now a person who is found guilty of an offence by violating the laws

of the land is arrested and found guilty, and here we are trying to

save him from punishment.

WHY??

Should laws just exist for one section of the people?

 

In the past there have been several pardons that have not gone well.

Like a senior state Government bureaucrat of the Nagaland Government,

an IAS officer who was found killing rhesus macaques in the fringe

areas of Kaziranga Naional Park and was arrested with a cache of arms

and ammuno, the quantity of which was enough to start a war. he was

later pardoned by the Chief Minister of Assam.

 

There was a case of the tranquiliser gun of the Chief Wildlife Warden

of Nagaland which was seized from the possesion of a poacher in

Kaziranga last year. No one knows what happened next. The CWW is

believed to have got away with the punishment.

 

In all the above where do animal rights advocates stand?

 

Is it too early for us to focus into the abuse of a smaller species

the Bugs and the Beetles?

 

Please find the TIMES article below.

 

Thanks,

 

Azam

 

 

Link: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1810336,00.html

 

Eating Bugs

 

By BRYAN WALSH/ RICHMOND

 

At the broad appetit food festival in downtown Richmond, Va.,

visitors can stuff themselves with pizza, Thai noodles, fried chicken

and--this being Virginia--smoky barbecue. But some of the biggest

crowds are gathered around David George Gordon, a cheerful 58-year-

old writer from Seattle. Gordon isn't cooking anything that complex--

just some pasta, prepared on a hot plate--but scattered among his

orzo like tiny six-legged meatballs is a show-stopping ingredient:

crickets. The author of The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook, Gordon considers

Orthopteran Orzo his signature dish. He scoops the pasta into paper

cups and begins handing out samples to the more adventuresome

onlookers. That includes me--I have a deep fear of insects, but I

have a deeper fear of my editors. The crickets are pretty good; they

give the pasta a tangy crunch, though a few of those legs stick in my

throat on the way down. Jon Fuller, 16, agrees. " It's really not that

bad, " he says and takes a second helping. " The goal is to get

from 'Not bad' to 'Actually good,' " says Gordon. " Bug appétit! "

 

 

In the U.S., we're more accustomed to exterminating insects than to

eating them, but in scores of countries around the world--including

Thailand, where food markets are stocked with commercially-raised

water beetles and bamboo worms--bugs have long been a part of a well-

balanced meal. Insect lovers like Gordon argue that entomophagy--the

scientific term for consuming insects--could also be a far greener

way to get protein than eating chicken, cows or pigs. With the global

livestock sector responsible for 18% of the world's greenhouse-gas

emissions and grain prices reaching record highs, cheap,

environmentally low-impact insects could be the food of the future--

provided we can stomach them. " This is an idea that shouldn't just be

ridiculed, " says Paul Vantomme, an officer at the U.N.'s Food and

Agriculture Organization, which recently held an entomophagy

conference in Bangkok.

 

The very qualities that make bugs so hard to get rid of could also

make them an environmentally friendly food. " Nature is very good at

making insects, " says David Gracer, one of the chefs at the Richmond

festival and the founder of future bug purveyor Sunrise Land Shrimp.

Insects require little room and few resources to grow. For instance,

it takes far less water to raise a third of a pound (150 g) of

grasshoppers than the staggering 869 gal. (3,290 L) needed to produce

the same amount of beef. Since bugs are cold-blooded invertebrates,

more of what they consume goes to building edible body parts, whereas

pigs and other warm-blooded vertebrates need to consume a lot of

calories just to keep their body temperature steady. There's even a

formula, called the efficiency of conversion of ingested food to body

substance (ECI), that can be used to compare the weight different

animals gain after eating a certain quantity of feed. Beef cattle

have an ECI of 10. Silkworms range from 19 to 31. German cockroaches

max out at 44.

 

Incredibly efficient to raise, insects are also crawling packets of

nutrition. A 100-gram (3.5 oz.) portion of cooked Usata terpsichore

caterpillars--commonly eaten in central Africa--contains about 28

grams (1 oz.) of protein, slightly more than you'd get from the same

amount of chicken. Water bugs have four times as much iron as beef.

 

Bugs can be tasty too--Gordon swears by his white chocolate and

waxworm cookies--but Americans first need to overcome the " eww "

factor. We think bugs are dirty, disease-laden or otherwise dangerous

to eat--though they're not, as long as you cook them properly, are

not allergic to shellfish (which, like insects, are arthropods) and

aren't collecting bugs from fields that have been hit with

pesticides. We're revolted by their alien appearance, but then again,

lobster could hardly be described as cute and cuddly. And food taboos

are not eternal; think of how unlikely it would have seemed 50 years

ago that there would be more than 9,000 sushi restaurants in the U.S.

There's also the possibility that someday the exploding global

population and the damage of climate change could bring about the

collapse of our resource-intensive food supply. " At that point, "

notes Gracer, " insects could become a pretty attractive option. "

 

In Richmond, with the smell of overstuffed po'boys wafting through

the air, the threat of agricultural apocalypse still seems a long way

off. But if the entomophagists have yet to win many converts, they've

definitely earned the curiosity of the crowd, which huddles beneath a

tent to watch Gordon and Gracer in a bug cook-off. Gordon serves his

crickets orzo with tarantula tempura, which he makes by frying a fist-

size arachnid. (I skip the spider. I like my job, but not that much.)

It's Gracer who takes first prize, however, with a series of dishes,

including a tasty salad with Queen Atta ants, stinkbugs and, best of

all, waxworms, whose popcorn-size larvae are meaty and flavorful. But

I don't look too closely. Gordon likes to say that when you try to

eat insects, there's a dialogue between your brain, which says bugs

can be good for you, and your stomach, which is ready to revolt. I

know my brain is right, but as Gordon says, " The stomach always votes

last. "

 

 

 

 

 

aapn , " AZAM SIDDIQUI " <azam24x7 wrote:

>

> Link:

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080706/jsp/frontpage/story_9511154.jsp

>

> Call to let off beetle scientist

> OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

> New Delhi, July 5: Over 600 scientists around the world have signed

a petition seeking the release of Czech entomologist Petr Svacha,

arrested in Bengal two weeks ago for illegally collecting beetles,

moths and butterflies, Indian entomologists said today.

>

> A text of the petition, signed online by the researchers who

specialise in invertebrates, has been sent to the Prime Minister, the

Bengal chief minister and Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, said the

scientists who organised the petition in India.

>

> Forest officials arrested Svacha, 51, and another Czech national,

Emil Kucera, 52, on June 22 when they caught them with some 200

beetles and other insects, collected from the Singalila National

Park, about 90km from Darjeeling. Indian laws ban the collection of

large numbers of insects from protected areas.

>

> Svacha and Kucera are expected to be produced in court on Monday

when a second bail plea will be moved. They are in judicial remand at

the Darjeeling Correctional Home.

>

> Svacha, a senior scientist at the institute of entomology at the

Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, has impeccable credentials

as a world-renowned authority on beetle larvae, the petition said.

>

> " We are convinced Dr Svacha was motivated purely by his work and

was collecting beetles for no other reason than for research, " the

petition said. " He probably did not realise that he had entered a

protected area. "

>

> " The insects they study do not have commercial value. They include

major forestry pests, and Dr Svacha's publications are of great use

to forestry authorities all over the world, " Max Barclay, a curator

at the Natural History Museum, London, said in an email sent to

Indian scientists.

>

> The scientists have asked authorities to consider Svacha's age and

frail condition and release him. The petition does not mention the

other arrested Czech.

>

> " We do not know about significant scientific research publications

by the other gentleman yet, " said Priyadarsanan Dharmarajan, a

scientist at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the

Environment, Bangalore.

>

> --

> United against elephant polo

> http://www.stopelephantpolo.com

> http://www.freewebs.com/azamsiddiqui

>

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Share on other sites

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Link:

http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2008/07/02/czech-entomologists-arrested-in-in\

dia

Czech entomologists arrested in India Authorities jail Czech scientists on

suspicion of insect smuggling

 

By Markéta Hulpachová

Staff Writer, *The Prague Post*

July 2nd, 2008 issue

 

Bugs are Petr Švácha's life passion. Described by his co-workers as an

ardent entomologist with " no personal life, " the 51-year-old Academy of

Sciences researcher devoted his career to the study of long-horned beetles.

 

So when an Indian newspaper linked his June 23 arrest for collecting rare

beetles, butterflies and moths in a north Indian nature preserve to

commercial insect smuggling, his colleagues joined forces to restore

Švácha's good name.

 

" We know Švácha as a man who is motivated purely by his work, " a trio of

Institute of Entomology scientists wrote in a June 27 open letter. " In his

case, we can fully exclude [the possibility of] collecting beetles for

reasons other than research.

 

" Meanwhile, the rail-thin, bespectacled scientist and his friend,

52-year-old forester Emil KuÄera, await trial in Darjeeling, where the chief

judicial magistrate court denied them bail upon their arrest.

 

" Å vácha and KuÄera remain in custody. Their trial is scheduled for July 7,

but an ongoing justice-workers' strike may delay the process, " said Foreign

Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalová.

 

Å vácha and KuÄera's odyssey began early last month, when they embarked on a

mission to the hills of Darjeeling, a region in the north Indian province of

West Bengal. Currently lacking grants to finance his research, Švácha funded

the trip out of his own pocket, which technically classified it as a

vacation, according to his colleague František Marec, chairman of the

Biology Center at the Institute of Entomology.

 

" When you are studying insects, there are basically three ways to obtain

samples of particular species, " Marec said. " You can use existing

collections, which are often devoid of new species, or you can request

samples from larger institutions or on-location scientists, which is

expensive. The third option, of course, is to go out and obtain the samples

yourself.

 

" As one of the world's foremost experts on long-horned beetle larvae, Švácha

evidently opted for the latter, with little awareness of the personal risk

involved.

 

" He had no idea what he was getting into, " Marec said.

 

Upon arresting Å vácha and KuÄera in the Singalila National Park, rangers

confiscated 200 live beetles and more than 200 butterflies, moths and

larvae, as well as a specialized insect collection apparatus from the

cottage where the duo was staying, according to the Indian newspaper The

Statesman.

 

According to Merisource, another Indian news server, the forest officials

were following a tip-off that two suspicious foreigners were " making forays "

into the hillside.

 

If indicted, the two Czechs could face two to seven years of imprisonment

under Indian law, which prohibits the collection of flora and fauna from

national parks.

 

" [Å vácha and KuÄera] were collecting rare beetles and butterflies, [which

violates] … the Wildlife Protection Act, " park official Utpal Nath told The

Statesman. " They claim that the intention for collection was mainly for

research, but there is a serious implication of an import and export

business on rare insects.

 

" Describing the arrest as a " lamentable error, " Marec said Å vácha and KuÄera

were most likely oblivious to the fact that they were gathering insects on

national park territory. " They allegedly did not realize this, because they

saw cows grazing and people cutting wood nearby, " Opletalová said.

 

*From bad to worse

 

*In addition to misunderstanding the local park classification system, the

duo may have failed to notice current political unrests in the region, whose

hillside inhabitants, the Gorkhas, recently renewed their decades-old

struggle for independence.

 

" At a time when the hills of Darjeeling are restless on the demand of a

separate state … a few foreigners have been gadding around the hillside

collecting beetles, " Merisource wrote.

 

Indian authorities, who estimate the confiscated insects' total value at

7,000 rupees (around 3,800 KÄ), have a history of apprehending foreigners

for collecting the same types of insects as Å vácha and KuÄera. These include

the tiger beetle, a highly demanded insect used in traditional Chinese,

Japanese and Latin American medicine.

 

In 2005, Darjeeling Forest officials arrested a group of Japanese nationals,

who served unspecified prison sentences for collecting such creatures, The

Statesman reported.

 

As Å vácha and KuÄera prepare for their upcoming trial, Marec and his

colleagues continue to worry. " When [a co-worker] spoke to him on the phone,

Švácha was not complaining, " he said. " But, at 184 centimeters tall, he only

weighs around 60 kilos, and with the conditions in Indian jails, he could

catch salmonella.

 

" In addition to bemoaning the misfortune of his colleague, who he describes

as an integral wheel at the entomology institute, Marec voiced concern that

the event would discourage certain future research expeditions.

 

" Of course, it will deter scientists from West European countries, who are

warier of these regions, " he said. " But we former communists are not so

afraid of this, although the consequences are sometimes awful. "

 

 

 

On Sun, Jul 6, 2008 at 6:30 PM, azam24x7 <azam24x7 wrote:

 

> This incident of a member of the 'scientist' community and that too

> an entomologist who are believed to be more qualified and sensible

> lot of human beings getting arrested for such an offence in a foreign

> country, is just not a stray or unfortunate incident but something

> very serious.

> More serious for the animal people than the Environmentalists or the

> Scientist community which has put up a petition to get the offender

> pardoned.

>

> A similar incident of a German citizen being warned by the local

> council people in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh few

> days back when he was collecting beetles/ bugs is just not a co-

> incidence, but some more food for thought.

>

> Arunachal Pradesh falls under the restricted zone where foreign

> Nationals are not allowed easy access.

> Only those who apply for special permissions are allowed the permit.

> Knowing all the facts why would a tourist dare such a risk?

> There must be something we need to explore deep into.

>

> Sometime back I had posted an article 'Eating Bugs' which has been

> published on the latest issue of TIMES magzine (it was not allowed by

> Dr. John for not being Asian specific then).

>

> I am posting the article yet once again and would appeal Dr. John to

> kindly allow it to be posted and let our rs make the

> connection between the following:

>

> 1. The arrest of the Czech senior scientist with the Beetles, moth,

> butterflies etc etc.

>

> 2. The German tourist in Arunachal Pradesh who was doing exactly the

> same.

>

> and

>

> 4.The TIMES article.

>

> Before I end let me also stress upon one more important thing, the

> scientist community and some of the noted organisations working for

> environment and conservation have also joined hands in trying o get

> the man pardoned.

> Now a person who is found guilty of an offence by violating the laws

> of the land is arrested and found guilty, and here we are trying to

> save him from punishment.

> WHY??

> Should laws just exist for one section of the people?

>

> In the past there have been several pardons that have not gone well.

> Like a senior state Government bureaucrat of the Nagaland Government,

> an IAS officer who was found killing rhesus macaques in the fringe

> areas of Kaziranga Naional Park and was arrested with a cache of arms

> and ammuno, the quantity of which was enough to start a war. he was

> later pardoned by the Chief Minister of Assam.

>

> There was a case of the tranquiliser gun of the Chief Wildlife Warden

> of Nagaland which was seized from the possesion of a poacher in

> Kaziranga last year. No one knows what happened next. The CWW is

> believed to have got away with the punishment.

>

> In all the above where do animal rights advocates stand?

>

> Is it too early for us to focus into the abuse of a smaller species

> the Bugs and the Beetles?

>

> Please find the TIMES article below.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Azam

>

> Link: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1810336,00.html

>

> Eating Bugs

>

> By BRYAN WALSH/ RICHMOND

>

> At the broad appetit food festival in downtown Richmond, Va.,

> visitors can stuff themselves with pizza, Thai noodles, fried chicken

> and--this being Virginia--smoky barbecue. But some of the biggest

> crowds are gathered around David George Gordon, a cheerful 58-year-

> old writer from Seattle. Gordon isn't cooking anything that complex--

> just some pasta, prepared on a hot plate--but scattered among his

> orzo like tiny six-legged meatballs is a show-stopping ingredient:

> crickets. The author of The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook, Gordon considers

> Orthopteran Orzo his signature dish. He scoops the pasta into paper

> cups and begins handing out samples to the more adventuresome

> onlookers. That includes me--I have a deep fear of insects, but I

> have a deeper fear of my editors. The crickets are pretty good; they

> give the pasta a tangy crunch, though a few of those legs stick in my

> throat on the way down. Jon Fuller, 16, agrees. " It's really not that

> bad, " he says and takes a second helping. " The goal is to get

> from 'Not bad' to 'Actually good,' " says Gordon. " Bug appétit! "

>

> In the U.S., we're more accustomed to exterminating insects than to

> eating them, but in scores of countries around the world--including

> Thailand, where food markets are stocked with commercially-raised

> water beetles and bamboo worms--bugs have long been a part of a well-

> balanced meal. Insect lovers like Gordon argue that entomophagy--the

> scientific term for consuming insects--could also be a far greener

> way to get protein than eating chicken, cows or pigs. With the global

> livestock sector responsible for 18% of the world's greenhouse-gas

> emissions and grain prices reaching record highs, cheap,

> environmentally low-impact insects could be the food of the future--

> provided we can stomach them. " This is an idea that shouldn't just be

> ridiculed, " says Paul Vantomme, an officer at the U.N.'s Food and

> Agriculture Organization, which recently held an entomophagy

> conference in Bangkok.

>

> The very qualities that make bugs so hard to get rid of could also

> make them an environmentally friendly food. " Nature is very good at

> making insects, " says David Gracer, one of the chefs at the Richmond

> festival and the founder of future bug purveyor Sunrise Land Shrimp.

> Insects require little room and few resources to grow. For instance,

> it takes far less water to raise a third of a pound (150 g) of

> grasshoppers than the staggering 869 gal. (3,290 L) needed to produce

> the same amount of beef. Since bugs are cold-blooded invertebrates,

> more of what they consume goes to building edible body parts, whereas

> pigs and other warm-blooded vertebrates need to consume a lot of

> calories just to keep their body temperature steady. There's even a

> formula, called the efficiency of conversion of ingested food to body

> substance (ECI), that can be used to compare the weight different

> animals gain after eating a certain quantity of feed. Beef cattle

> have an ECI of 10. Silkworms range from 19 to 31. German cockroaches

> max out at 44.

>

> Incredibly efficient to raise, insects are also crawling packets of

> nutrition. A 100-gram (3.5 oz.) portion of cooked Usata terpsichore

> caterpillars--commonly eaten in central Africa--contains about 28

> grams (1 oz.) of protein, slightly more than you'd get from the same

> amount of chicken. Water bugs have four times as much iron as beef.

>

> Bugs can be tasty too--Gordon swears by his white chocolate and

> waxworm cookies--but Americans first need to overcome the " eww "

> factor. We think bugs are dirty, disease-laden or otherwise dangerous

> to eat--though they're not, as long as you cook them properly, are

> not allergic to shellfish (which, like insects, are arthropods) and

> aren't collecting bugs from fields that have been hit with

> pesticides. We're revolted by their alien appearance, but then again,

> lobster could hardly be described as cute and cuddly. And food taboos

> are not eternal; think of how unlikely it would have seemed 50 years

> ago that there would be more than 9,000 sushi restaurants in the U.S.

> There's also the possibility that someday the exploding global

> population and the damage of climate change could bring about the

> collapse of our resource-intensive food supply. " At that point, "

> notes Gracer, " insects could become a pretty attractive option. "

>

> In Richmond, with the smell of overstuffed po'boys wafting through

> the air, the threat of agricultural apocalypse still seems a long way

> off. But if the entomophagists have yet to win many converts, they've

> definitely earned the curiosity of the crowd, which huddles beneath a

> tent to watch Gordon and Gracer in a bug cook-off. Gordon serves his

> crickets orzo with tarantula tempura, which he makes by frying a fist-

> size arachnid. (I skip the spider. I like my job, but not that much.)

> It's Gracer who takes first prize, however, with a series of dishes,

> including a tasty salad with Queen Atta ants, stinkbugs and, best of

> all, waxworms, whose popcorn-size larvae are meaty and flavorful. But

> I don't look too closely. Gordon likes to say that when you try to

> eat insects, there's a dialogue between your brain, which says bugs

> can be good for you, and your stomach, which is ready to revolt. I

> know my brain is right, but as Gordon says, " The stomach always votes

> last. "

>

>

> aapn <aapn%40>, " AZAM SIDDIQUI "

> <azam24x7 wrote:

> >

> > Link:

> http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080706/jsp/frontpage/story_9511154.jsp

> >

> > Call to let off beetle scientist

> > OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

> > New Delhi, July 5: Over 600 scientists around the world have signed

> a petition seeking the release of Czech entomologist Petr Svacha,

> arrested in Bengal two weeks ago for illegally collecting beetles,

> moths and butterflies, Indian entomologists said today.

> >

> > A text of the petition, signed online by the researchers who

> specialise in invertebrates, has been sent to the Prime Minister, the

> Bengal chief minister and Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, said the

> scientists who organised the petition in India.

> >

> > Forest officials arrested Svacha, 51, and another Czech national,

> Emil Kucera, 52, on June 22 when they caught them with some 200

> beetles and other insects, collected from the Singalila National

> Park, about 90km from Darjeeling. Indian laws ban the collection of

> large numbers of insects from protected areas.

> >

> > Svacha and Kucera are expected to be produced in court on Monday

> when a second bail plea will be moved. They are in judicial remand at

> the Darjeeling Correctional Home.

> >

> > Svacha, a senior scientist at the institute of entomology at the

> Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, has impeccable credentials

> as a world-renowned authority on beetle larvae, the petition said.

> >

> > " We are convinced Dr Svacha was motivated purely by his work and

> was collecting beetles for no other reason than for research, " the

> petition said. " He probably did not realise that he had entered a

> protected area. "

> >

> > " The insects they study do not have commercial value. They include

> major forestry pests, and Dr Svacha's publications are of great use

> to forestry authorities all over the world, " Max Barclay, a curator

> at the Natural History Museum, London, said in an email sent to

> Indian scientists.

> >

> > The scientists have asked authorities to consider Svacha's age and

> frail condition and release him. The petition does not mention the

> other arrested Czech.

> >

> > " We do not know about significant scientific research publications

> by the other gentleman yet, " said Priyadarsanan Dharmarajan, a

> scientist at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the

> Environment, Bangalore.

> >

> > --

> > United against elephant polo

> > http://www.stopelephantpolo.com

> > http://www.freewebs.com/azamsiddiqui

> >

>

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United against elephant polo

http://www.stopelephantpolo.com

http://www.freewebs.com/azamsiddiqui

 

 

 

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