For Immediate Release:
05 July 2024
Contact:
Meet Ashar; AsharM@petaindia.org
Hiraj Laljani; HirajL@petaindia.org
Pune – Following a concerned citizen’s complaint about two Alexandrine parakeets being kept in a small, dingy cage at a residence in Aundh, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India worked with Pune forest officials to rescue the birds. On visiting the location, the team found three parakeets, who were immediately seized by the forest department.
Following their rescue, the birds were sent to RESQ Charitable Trust for a health check, treatment, and temporary rehabilitation. They will be released in nature once their recovery is complete. Alexandrine parakeets are protected under Schedule II of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (WPA). Buying, selling, or possessing this species is an offence punishable by a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh or a jail term of up to three years – or both. PETA India has written to the Maharashtra Forest Department calling for the illegal custodians to be booked under the relevant sections of the WPA.
“PETA India is grateful to the Pune division of the Maharashtra Forest Department, particularly Deputy Conservator of Forests Shri Mahadev Mohite, IFS, for promptly rescuing the parakeets from a grim situation,” says PETA India Cruelty Response Coordinator Sunayana Basu. “PETA India urges anyone who learns of cruelty to animals to report it to a local animal protection group and the police or, when wild animals are involved, the forest department.”
In the illegal bird trade, countless birds are taken from their families and denied everything that’s natural and important to them so that they can be sold as pets or used as bogus fortune-tellers. Fledglings are often snatched from their nests, and others panic as they’re caught in traps or nets that can seriously injure or kill them as they struggle to break free. Captured birds are packed into small boxes, and an estimated 60% of them die in transit from broken wings and legs, thirst, or sheer panic. Those who survive face a bleak life in captivity, suffering from malnutrition, loneliness, depression, and stress.
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please PETAIndia.com or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
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