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PuneMirror 24/08/2015

NGOs working for animal welfare are seeing an increasing new trend where fauna meant for the wild is being domesticated

While the phenomenon of serpents being ferried by snake charmers during Nag Panchami has declined over the years due to intervention, animal rescue volunteers now have a new predicament on their hands.

This year, even as rescuers retrieved snakes during their raids, they saw a host of other wild animals being kept as pets. Volunteers say this is a trend which is often flaunted on social media to show off the owner's daring.

In one such instance, a porcupine was rescued from Rohkal village at Chakan on Saturday night. "We got a tip-off on Friday and we went to rescue the animal along with forest officials," said Ravi Lohire, a member of the NGO, Wildlife Welfare Association. The porcupine was rescued from Vilas Baburao Shinde, who had found the animal in his backyard and instead of releasing it, had kept it since he was unaware of the legal repercussions.

"The porcupine was not fully grown and so behaved quite tame. It was medically examined and found to be fit by veterinary doctors. It will be released soon at Bhimashankar," informed Lohire.

Lohire had handled a similar case some days ago where a lady at Karvenagar had a monkey as a pet as well as a parrot." All these animals are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act .

However, the urge to flaunt coupled with ignorance of the repercussions has led to a spike in such incidents. Such is the audacity at times that in June, there was a video of four people, who had kidnapped a monkey from Varanda Ghat to keep as a pet. They were traced through their number plate and the animal was rescued.

"People are not aware that keeping these animals as pets is illegal. It's often sheer ignorance that lands them in trouble like in the case of the person who had the porcupine," said Manohar Shevkari of Vasundhara Bahuddeshiya Sanstha, another NGO.

Such cases were also observed by the forest department, which has upped its ante to crack down on such cases. "Besides the porcupine and the monkey, we have tip-offs for a few similar cases and are going to take action soon. People keep such animals claiming it is their hobby or to show off to peers. Even resorts especially on in peripheral areas keep wild animals on their premises to attract customers," said Satyajeet Gujar, deputy conservator of forests, Pune.

"There is also an increase in the trend of keeping wild pigeons, parrots, turtles, etc, as pets. Dogs and cats are seen as too traditional. Also, even though pet shops are aware that it is illegal, they make these animals easily available," said Amruta Ubale, head of the NGO Animal Equality in India, who was instrumental in rescuing the kidnapped monkey.