Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya visits State Zoo, takes stock of rescued wildlife species

July 31: Assam Forest and Environment Minister Parimal Suklabaidya visited Assam State Zoo, Guwahati on Friday and took stock of the condition of the rescued exotic wildlife species. Personnel of Cachar Forest Division, Silchar intercepted a vehicle at Lailapur Forest Sub Beat carrying consignment of exotic wildlife. Later on, it was found that the consignment contained a kangaroo from Australia, six Macaw parrots, three tortoises and two capuchin monkeys from South America. The rescued animals were then sent to Guwahati Zoo.

During his visit, Forest & Environment Minister was accompanied by the state forest officials including Cachar Divisional Forest Officer Sunny Deo Choudhary and others. The minister gave necessary directions to take care of these rescued exotic species.

“It is against the backdrop of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its connection to wet markets, it’s high time we put an end to such practices of keeping pet of these exotic species and refrain from illegal wildlife trade. Let them live in their natural habitat,” said Forest Range Officer, of Hawaithang Range, Dholai, D. Deori, AFS.

Two persons named Narsimha Reddy and Navnath Tukaram Daigude have been detained. In the course of interrogation, they revealed to the forest personnel that the consignment was headed to Guwahati. The forest personnel were on a routine check of trucks passing through Lailapur to detect carrying of any illegal timber. However, one of the forest personnel detected obnoxious odours emanating from a truck. On being questioned, the driver replied that it was nothing but foul smell from some rotten fruits. Not convinced with the trucker’s reply, the forest personnel searched the vehicle and found the exotic animals packed in plastic and carton boxes.
The team was led by Forester-I, Beat Forest Officer, Lailapur Forest Sub Beat, Uttam Das, Forest Guard, Hemojit Singha, Boatman, Rajib Barman and Casual Worker, Ali Ahmed Laskar.

Meanwhile, Forest Range Officer of Hawaithang Range, Dholai, D. Deori, AFS, is investigating into the matter under the direction of DFO Cachar Forest Division, Sunnydeo Choudhary, IFS.