(IN): Wildlife officers mum as marmosets not Indian!

[Guest guest]

* " They are not Indian animals and as wildlife protectors, we cannot do

anything. For all practical purposes, for the world, it is a police case and to

be treated as a case of theft, " *

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*S.B. Mondal, chief wildlife warden, government of West Bengal, told India Today

on Monday.*

 

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Why go hunting or to the illegal wildlife market and risk your lives when

you have India's WILDLIFE SHOWROOMS at almost every rural and urban town,

where you can pick up your favorite animal.

Just remember the law " IT HAS TO BE A FOREIGN NON PROTECTED SPECIES " .

 

Thank you Mr. Widlife warden for at least having the guts to speak your

helplessness in protecting wildlife.

You FAILED to play a caring surrogate mother to the imprisoned animals in

iron cages, but you have succeeded in making this public announcement to the

world -

COME ONE COME ALL, PICK YOUR CHOICE, BUT REMEMBER TO ONLY PICK THE FOREIGN

ONES, COZ INDIAN'S ARE PROTECTED- THE REST ARE NOT !!

 

I hope I am the 1st person to circulate this message to inform INTERPOL and

CITES about this news, at least let them be aware of our helplessness

towards foreign species in INDIAN PRISONS.

 

I suggest all who read this should do the same.

 

As for the Zoo (Prison) Associations and Organisations worldwide, I do not

think circulating this piece of news would make any difference because you

always wanted these Zoos (Prisons) to be PRISONS of the WORST kinds, and so

you have it.

 

And to the countries who still wish to exchange animals with INDIA, back off

or hang your heads in shame !!

 

Azam

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http://indiatoday.intoday.in/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=55982 & sec\

tionid=22 & issueid=118 & Itemid=1

Wildlife officers mum as marmosets not Indian!Abhijit DasguptaKolkata,

August 10, 2009

 

 

The wildlife authorities in India can do nothing about the theft of eight

rare Brazilian marmosets (monkeys of a different type from the common

rhesus) from the 140-year-old Alipore Zoo in Kolkata because of their

origin.

 

" They are not Indian animals and as wildlife protectors, we cannot do

anything. For all practical purposes, for the world, it is a police case and

to be treated as a case of theft, " S.B. Mondal, chief wildlife warden,

government of West Bengal, told India Today on Monday.

 

" We cannot even give any directive to the Zoo which is an autonomous

organisation. But the breach of security is unpardonable, " he said.

 

The marmosets, found only in Kolkata and Mysore zoos, weigh only 500 grams

and it is understood that the thieves simply broke into the cage and took

them away wearing gloves. There was nobody in duty near the cage at that

point in time.

.

This is not the first time that such thefts have happened in the Alipore Zoo

but the taking away of marmosets, which are key to reproductive biological

research and sell for $3000 each in the clandestine abroad, has shaken the

very foundations of wildlife protection in India. Wildlife experts plan to

move court on the issue of animal protection and B.R. Sharma, member

secretary of the Central Zoo Authority, has said quite clearly that the

cages were more than a hundred years old.

 

Alipore Zoo sources who refused to be named, said that was true. " The

railings of most of the zoo cages are rusting and old, so much so that they

can broken by sheer hand power. In internal meetings, this point has been

raised over and over again but with no results. Hopefully, the authorities

will wake up now after the loss of marmosets, " they said. A meeting of the

zoo administration was on and the Zoo director, Subir Choudhury, was held up

in meeting after meetings and had to do a lot of explaining to his bosses

and wildlife organisations. The security of the zoo is looked after by a

private security agency and only 16 guards are deployed for the entire zoo

housing thousands of animals and birds, some of them precious and rare

species.

 

There has been talk of shifting the zoo to the outskirts of the city for a

very long time now but nobody has taken a first step. The Central Zoo

Authority had even threatened to derecognise the Alipore Zoo after breach of

security came to light but even that has not been implemented.

 

Most wildlife experts feel that the Alipore Zoo has more than it can manage

given the infrastructure. " There are hundreds of birds and animals that the

zoo can do without. There is no point in having tens of rhesus monkeys

languishing in cramped cages when you can have a look at them in the streets

outside. What is the point in using up such space when other animals, if

they are at all supposed to be in zoos, jostling for space, " asked Anuradha

Sawhney, chief functionary of PETA, India.

 

Belinda Wright, executive director, Wildlife Protection Society of India,

said that marmosets were in great demand throughout the world as exotic

pets. She said, " All this talk of marmosets being stolen for black magic

purposes is not right. They are stolen for medical research. But as pets,

they are very popular. There have been recent examples of marmosets being

stolen from European zoos, particularly the UK. They have an easy market

everywhere. The Western trend of exotic pets is catching up in India too and

I am afraid these marmosets are still in India and might find their way to

some wealthy Indian's home. " Wright met the minister, Jairam Ramesh, on

Monday and lodged a complaint against the Alipore Zoo authorities.

 

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