Mumbai Crime: Pet shop raided for illegal sale of exotic birds

The purple swamphens rescued from the shop

Acting on a tip-off from a Thane-based NGO that has been rescuing wildlife from illegal trade, Thane Forest Department (Territorial) officials and their Anti-Poaching team rescued almost 100 birds kept for sale at a pet shop in Mumbra yesterday.

Around a week back, Aditya Patil, the president of the NGO Wildlife Welfare Association (WWA), had got a tip-off from their informers, that a private pet shop located in Mumbra had kept birds belonging to protected species for sale. To verify the information, few volunteers from the NGO posing as customers visited the shop, and were shocked to see birds such as the migratory ruddy shelduck, purple swamphen, plum-headed parakeet, Eurasian collared dove, and scaly-breasted munia kept for sale.

Tip-off leads NGO
Speaking to mid-day, Patil said, "Last week we got a tip-off from our sources, which was later confirmed by our volunteers after they visited the Royal Pet shop in Mumbra. Majority of the birds that were kept for sale in the shop are protected in schedule 4 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972."

The NGO gave the information with proof to the Range Forest Officer of Thane Range, and on Tuesday afternoon, a team from the Thane Forest Department (Territorial) and their Anti-Poaching team, an SRPF team and local police from Mumbra raided the pet shop and rescued nearly 100 birds of different species which were illegally kept for sale.

Owner in custody
"The owner of the shop and an employee are in custody of the forest department and the process to book them is on. The birds were squeezed into small cages and were in really bad condition. The birds are now in our custody and we have kept them in bigger enclosures. A veterinary officer from TMC will soon conduct their check ups," said Patil.

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