Date:23/07/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/07/23/stories/2004072315870300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Animals rescued

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, JULY 22. A city-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) has found animals protected under the Wildlife Protection Act being illegally kept as pets in a farmhouse off

Mysore Road.

A release from People for Animals (PFA) said it received an anonymous call saying a bear was being kept in a small cage in the farmhouse.

The PFA then got in touch with the Forest Department, and on July 21 the Conservator of Forests, Rangaswamy, and the Deputy Conservator of Forests, Parameshwar, inspected the place.

The animals were later rescued.

The NGO said people kept wildlife as pets "as they feel these are a status symbol. But it is illegal under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972."

At the farmhouse, the Forest officials found: a male sloth bear, chitals (five of them), black-naped hares (two), pea-fowls (five), one rose-ringed parakeet, one squirrel, and a bonnet macaque.

A crow pheasant was found dead in its cage.

"The parakeets were seized and taken to the PFA rehab facility at Kengeri. The squirrel was released on the spot," the release said.

The other animals would be taken over by the Forest Department after the necessary proceedings, the PFA said.