Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Sep 9: Forest officials have issued stern warning to people against rearing of parrots as pets, decorative birds, or for fortune telling through them, which is popular in some rural pockets. Those who choose to keep parrots at home will face action.

Not only parrots, those found to be caging any kind of monkeys, wild animals and birds, or raising them at home will be liable to face cases and legal action. National Environmental Care Federation had written to the government, urging it to ban use of wild animals and torturing them. The state chief forest conservator too has issued circular to all the chief forest conservators, asking them to initiate legal steps wherever instances of indulging in violence with wild animals are found.

As per Forest Act, rearing of parrots, and harassing birds in the guise of foretelling future of customers etc are treated as crime. Till recently, people of a particular community could be seen keeping a parrot in a cage and foretelling the future of people willing to shell out some money by asking the bird to pick a card. Such fortune tellers either sat by the side of the roads or roamed from place to place. Even people who come to know such instances can complain to forest department now.

Likewise, making monkeys to do antics like dancing, getting coconuts plucked through them etc also will attract penal action. As per Wildlife Protection Act, no wild animals or birds except crows can be caught, kept under confinement, or tortured.

This act had not been strictly implemented so far. But with the perseverance of the federation, the act has now been properly implemented and its implementation is expected to be more affective from now on.

General secretary of the federation, Shashidhar Shetty, said that a letter had been written to the government to ban use of monkeys, parrots etc and to stop torturing wild animals. He said that on the basis of the letter, the government has lent teeth to the implementing machinery now.