Illegally Held Baby Monkeys and Parakeets Rescued From Mumbai Apartment

Mumbai, 30th March 2023 (GNI): Acting on a tip from a concerned citizen, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India worked with the range forest officer, Mumbai, Thane Forest Division, to rescue two monkeys and three parakeets – both species protected under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 – who were being illegally held in an individual’s home. The animals are currently recovering at the Thane Forest Division’s facility prior to rehabilitation. The unlawful custodian voluntarily surrendered the animals, and after being warned about the legal consequences of illegally keeping protected wild animals, pledged not to do so in the future.

“PETA India thanks the Thane Forest Division officials for working with us to rescue caged parakeets and two tethered baby monkeys from a grim situation,” says PETA India Manager of Cruelty Response Projects Meet Ashar. “This incident is exactly why laws exist to keep wild animals where they belong – in nature – and out of cages and chains.”

PETA India points out that capturing, buying, selling, or caging monkeys or parakeets is illegal and can result in a jail term of up to three years, a fine of up to Rs 25,000, or both.

In the illegal bird trade, countless birds are torn away from their families and denied everything that is natural and important to them so that they can be sold as “pets” or used as bogus “fortune-tellers”. Fledglings are often snatched from their nests, while other birds panic as they’re caught in traps or nets that can seriously injure or kill them as they struggle to break free. Captured birds are packed into small boxes, and an estimated 60% of them die in transit from broken wings and legs, thirst, or sheer panic. Those who survive face a bleak, lonely life in captivity, suffering from malnutrition, loneliness, depression, and stress.

Meanwhile, monkeys are trained to perform tricks through beatings and food deprivation, and their teeth are commonly pulled out to prevent them from defending themselves. In 1998, the central government issued a notification under The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, stating that monkeys and several other species of wild animals are not to be exhibited or trained as performing animals.

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.ends GNI SG