13 African monkeys found abandoned in Derby Tea Estate, sophisticated cage hints towards professional smuggling racket

The animal smuggling racket active in Cachar is becoming elaborate with every passing day. Today afternoon, 13 exotic monkeys were found in the Derby Tea Estate of Cachar. These monkeys are not of Indian origin and were smuggled into Cachar. Awareness of the public helped in the restoration and recovery of these primates. As of now, these animals, known as De Brazza’s Monkey are kept at the tea estate with the cooperation of the manager and tomorrow they will be on their way to a new permanent home in Assam State Zoo.

According to the available information, these monkeys belong to Central Africa’s riverine forests and wetlands. The Cachar DFO IFS Tejas Mariswamy in this regard said, “The public of the tea garden area informed us about these cages that had the monkeys. Accordingly, our department staff went there for recovery. There were four boxes where 13 monkeys were caged. We have kept it in the area for tonight and the team from Assam State Zoo will take them there for their permanent accommodation”.

The Indian Forest Service officer who is unaware of the origin of these primates said, “Probably they were smuggled to Cachar via Mizoram from Myanmar. Checking has been intensified for smuggling of animals in Cachar and maybe that is why they were abandoned to not get caught by the cops”.

Parthankar Choudhury, Dean of the E. P. Odum School of Ecology and Environmental Science of Assam University has informed Barak Bulletin about the identification of the animals that were found abandoned. He also said, “On September 27, 2 baby Indonesian Orangutans were found. Just in a 20 days gap, these exotic monkeys have been found today! There is an urgent need to install a wildlife check gate at Assam-Mizoram Border (near Vairanngte) which must work round the clock and throughout the year”. He further added, “Who said South East Asian Highway need to be started? It is already functional and regular illegal trafficking of a variety of wildlife is blatant proof of that.

It is worth mentioning here that, in all the recent cases of animal smuggling through Cachar, in most cases, the animal is locked inside sophisticated cages hinting towards the involvement of a professional racket. The pattern of smuggling is similar in all the cases and so are the cages used. A proper intervention of the Forest Department and Police can uncover the truth behind these smuggling rings.