Parassinikkadavu Snake Park closed down

By Our Staff Reporter

KANNUR, DEC. 10. In a surprising, though not wholly unexpected, move, the Forest and Wildlife Department today enforced the closure of the Parassinikkadavu Snake Park run by the Mr. M.V. Raghavan-headed Pappinissery Vishchikitsa Society and seized all wildlife creatures kept there to be released in various wildlife habitats on the ground that the animals kept at the park were illegally procured in violation of the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

Forest and Wildlife officials, however, were forced to keep the animals at the park itself as the Payyannur Judicial First Class Magistrate, Mr. Ananthakrishnan, in charge of the Taliparamba court, refused to grant the release order. The Magistrate, who visited the park late in the afternoon, ordered the officials to keep the animals under judicial custody till tomorrow.

The Forest officials headed by Mr. Mehar Singh, Conservator (Wildlife), Northern Circle, and Mr. G.J. Teggi, Conservator (Forests), Northern Circle, reached the park with a large contingent of police and Forest personnel at 5 a.m. The officials enforced the closure order, served by the Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), and confiscated all the animals.

The closure of the park and the confiscation of the animals followed the Central Government decision rejecting the request for recognition to the Snake Park dated June 30, 2000, which allowed the officials to implement the order of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) for closing down the park on April 27, 1998. The closure order also cited the recent observation of the Supreme Court against operation of unauthorised zoos.

The Forest officials and staff took nearly 12 hours to finish the work of shifting the animals from cages at the park to special cages. Mr. Mehar Singh told The Hindu that the animals would be kept under observation for two days and tested for parasite load by expert wildlife veterinary doctors before they were released to wildlife habitats.

The action against the park and the confiscation of the animals were part of the investigation into the charge of illegal venom extraction by the park management, he added.

According to the officials, the number of animals seized from the park exceeded the number of 205, as per the list given by the park officials.

The animals at the park included lion-tailed macaque, bonnet macaque, Nilgiri langur, crocodiles, snakes, including king cobras, and various species of feathered creatures. The officials said the snake park had not submitted any application for mandatory recognition under Section 38 H of the Wildlife (Protection) Act on or before the prescribed date of August 3, 1993. The application for recognition was given for the first time by the park authorities on February 10, 1995. Asked about the source from which the park had acquired animals afresh, the park authorities informed the CZA that the park was developed with the support of public after it was destroyed on February 10, 1993.

Following the evaluation by the technical committee of the CZA on March 10, 1998, the recognition for the park had been refused on the ground that the park management had not provided evidence of their acquiring animals legally.

Following a representation to the Union Ministry of Environment against the CZA order, the Central Government gave the park authorities six months' time, followed by another extension of three months (up to January 25, 2000), to produce the procurement certificate of animals in their stock. The park authorities had not produced the certificates by the prescribed time, they said. Instead, the park officials preferred to stall the procedures by filing an OP in the High Court though the court was yet to give any favourable order, the officials said.

Talking to presspersons in the afternoon, Mr. M.V. Raghavan, who is the president of the Visha Chikitsa Society, said he would take legal procedures to question the Government's action of confiscating the animals in violation of the directive of the Additional Director of Prosecutions that no action would be taken against the park as long as the case was pending in the High Court.

Snake Park sources said that the park, started in 1982, obtained ownership certificates for 13 snakes in 1980. In 1982, two crocodiles were purchased from the Madras Snake Park with all relevant documents. At present, the park had a total of 205 animals, including 18 snake species, 61 crocodiles, primates, etc., of which certificate was granted by the Chief Wildlife Conservator for keeping 164 animals.

As many as 105 creatures in the park perished when it was vandalised by CPI(M) workers on February 10, 1993. The park now possessed 52 of the total 59 creatures that survived the mayhem, they said. Thus, the total number of animals for which the park had no ownership certificate was 144, according to society office-bearers.

Forest officials pointed out that as per the mahazar they had prepared in the wake of the attack the park should have only 34 survivors with valid certificate.

The Wayanad Wildlife Warden, Mr. Rajan Sehgal, the Kannur DFO, Mr. O. Jayarajan, the Kozhikode DFO, Mr. E. Pradeepkumar, and the Aralam Wildlife Warden, Mr. Padmanabhan, also supervised the confiscation of animals.

The DSP, Mr. S. Gopinath, was also visited the park.

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