(IN) Life imprisonment with no court of appeal !

[Guest guest]

Compassionate Crusaders Trust was the first org in the world to file a case in

the high court, way back in 1998, briging CZA into focus and making it

accountable. Our case resulted in release of the elephants of Kolkata zoo from

the shackles, and lot of improvements subsequently and even getting a space

outside the city limits for a less carmped zoo. Couple of years back PeTA took

the details of that case from CCT and got the Mumbai zoo elephants released. It

is the Indian chapter of PeTA, USA.

 

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090812/jsp/opinion/story_11348398.jsp

 

EIGHT MONKEYS

Everything is political — even little monkeys. The idea of a zoo feels

distinctly archaic these days, giving off more than a whiff of political

incorrectness. So the neglect and mismanagement that have become chronic to the

Calcutta zoo often come across as less shocking than they should be, although no

less sad and cruel for being so. Yet, the zoo does make news every now and then,

and for bizarre reasons — two people mauled by a tiger after trying to put a

garland round its neck, chimpanzees breaking out of their cage, a giraffe

fatally entangled in overhead wire and now, eight stolen monkeys. Professionals

(prison guards or private security-men) sleeping through their watch with

unfortunate consequences have also been heard of recently in West Bengal. The

monkey-stealing is possibly part of a similar scenario. Two private guards

employed by the Alipore zoo have been arrested, and its director suspended; an

inquiry is on into the theft, and the alleged mix of laxity and co

llusion in the guards is yet to be proven. But the episode is as much a reminder

of the zoo being part of a thriving illegal trade in animals as of the zoo’s

generally miserable state. The sorriness of it all becomes more than a little

absurd with two political parties fitting the zoo up with loudspeakers and

hoardings in order to protest against the stealing of the marmosets, breaking

some rules and traumatizing the animals in the process. But this too is

typically Bengal.

 

If there must be a zoo in Calcutta, then those who run it and the Central Zoo

Authority must put their heads together and think through its raison d’être.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to rescue the place from being derecognized by

the CZA, a fate that could have befallen it more than once. A zoo still has a

significant role to play in the conservation of threatened species, and that

role, quite apart from the zoo’s touristic and entertainment value, should be

taken seriously. Many important cities of the world, including a few Indian

ones, have well-maintained zoos that do not exude a tragic air as does the one

in Calcutta. Zoos have evolved with the times, and a heartlessly circus-like

display of wildlife is no more the purpose of zoos in the modern world. If the

Alipore zoo fails to overcome inertia and corruption, then it would be difficult

for it to justify its own existence to those who genuinely care for animals.

 

Links:

http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/39981.htm

Two arrested for theft of rare monkeys from West Bengal zoo

 

http://www.ptinews.com/news/222871_Monkey-theft--Alipore-zoo-director-suspended

Monkey theft: Alipore zoo director suspended

 

http://www.ilovekolkata.in/index.php/News/CZA-seeks-report-on-monkey-theft.html

CZA seeks report on monkey theft

 

http://www.ptinews.com/news/220652_Eight-monkeys-stolen-from-Alipore-Zoo

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Alipore-zoo-in-dire-need-of-revamp-plan-say-e\

xperts/articleshow/4875406.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Prize-catch-for-grey-market/articleshow/48754\

05.cms

Alipore zoo....a crisis for captive animals

 

Reference:

Search:The Web Rediff

Home > News > Report

 

Scrap zoos, demand activists

 

M Chhaya in Kolkata | July 01, 2005 20:53 IST

 

 

Voicing the opinion that animals could be kept in captivity only for

conservation purposes, animal rights activists are demanding that

zoos, as entertainment centers, be abolished.

 

Already, the use of animals has been banned in circuses and last year,

the Calcutta high court asked the Central Zoo Authority to take steps

to improve conditions in zoos.

 

" We don't want zoos that are only for entertainment, " said Debasish

Chakraborty of the People for Animals, a leading animal rights group.

 

Indian zoo laws stipulate that animals should be kept in conditions as

close to nature as possible. However, in most Indian zoos, wild

animals are kept in crammed, dirty cages.

 

" Zoos can be replaced with rescue and rehabilitation centres, " Chakraborty said.

 

Officials of Compassionate Crusaders Trust, another animal rights

group, claimed that authorities were violating zoo laws which

stipulate that sick and weak animals shouldn't be kept for public

display.

 

" Instead of wasting money on the present-day zoos, authorities should

spend on building animal rescue and conservation centres, " said a CCT

official.

 

Animal rights activists say depletion of natural habitats meant that

there was a need for keeping sick and endangered animals in 'human

custody.'

 

" But the fact is, in a zoo, it's life imprisonment for the animals for

the pleasure of the human race. It's subjugation of the weaker

species, " Chakraborty said.

 

India is already facing criticism from environmentalists for failing

to protect tigers whose population has fallen from some 40,000 a

century ago to just about 3,700 because of poaching. Some environment

groups put the number at less than 2,000.

 

Reports in March said the entire tiger population at the Sariska tiger

reserve in western India had been killed by poachers. There were 16-18

tigers in Sariska a year ago.

 

 

Copyright © 2005 rediff.com India Limited. .

 

 

Thank you for your compassion !

With best regards,

Debasis Chakrabarti

Compassionate Crusaders Trust

http://www.animalcrusaders.org