Kangaroo, Macaw Parrot rescued in Cachar; DFO suspects “big international racket” smuggling’em through Myanmar

In yet another major success in the rescue of wildlife, personnel of Cachar Forest Division, Silchar intercepted a vehicle at Lailapur Forest Sub Beat carrying a consignment of exotic wildlife.

The forest authorities here disclosed that a truck bearing registration No.TS 08 UB 1622 coming from Mizoram side was intercepted by forest personnel at around 11:30 pm on late Tuesday night and help rescue a kangaroo, six Macaw parrots, three tortoises and two monkeys.

Two persons named Narsimha Reddy and Navnath Tukaram Daigude have been detained. “We will take them in remand for further interrogation,” said Cachar DFO Sunnydeo Choudhury to Barak Bulletin. In the course of primary interrogation, they revealed to the forest personnel that the consignment was headed to Guwahati.

But where did these animals come from? “All the species are international, including Monkey and Macaw parrot that are predominantly found in South America. So basically we doubt these are being smuggled from different places through Myanmar to India and having a big international racket,” the DFO said.

He added, that the animals rescued are very delicate and therefore they will be kept under expert’s observation at Assam Zoo, Guwahati.

The forest personnel was on a routine check of trucks passing through Lailapur to detect carrying of any illegal timber. However, one of the forest personnel detected obnoxious odours emanating from a truck. On being questioned, the driver replied that it was nothing but the foul smell from some rotten fruits. Not convinced with the trucker’s reply, the forest personnel searched the vehicle and found the exotic animals packed in plastic and carton boxes.

The team was led by Forester-I, Beat Forest Officer, Lailapur Forest Sub Beat, Uttam Das, Forest Guard, Hemojit Singha, Boatman, Rajib Barman and Casual Worker, Ali Ahmed Laskar.

Meanwhile, Forest Range Officer of Hawaithang Range, Dholai, D. Deori, AFS, is investigating the matter under the direction of DFO Cachar Forest Division. The DFO has directed the investigating forest official to ascertain the health of wildlife by local veterinary doctors.

In its first global report on the illegal wildlife trade, released a week ago, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) described wildlife trafficking as a “global threat”, which also has links with other organised crimes such as modern slavery, drug trafficking and arms trade.The illegal trade is estimated to generate revenues of up to $23 billion a year.