Sunish Subramanian Kunju, animal rights activist and founder of the Plants and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), has written to international wildlife conservation organisations alleging a scam on the part of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in bringing the Humboldt Penguins to Mumbai.
The letter was sent by Mr. Kunju to the International Union for Conservation for Nature and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Switzerland earlier this month.
The letter states that the Central Zoo Authority in their first letter to PAWS had stated that the proposal to acquire the penguins by the Byculla Zoo had been placed before CZA’s Technical Committee in its 71st meeting on September 2, 2014.
The letter states, “In the meeting it was intimated that the proposal was not advisable from the point of animal welfare issue, negative publicity, economics and difficulty in creation of naturalistic conditions. The committee also decided to inform the zoo authorities to seek advice on the matter from experts in terms of infrastructure that is required in consonance with the habit of the penguins and the technical know how for upkeep of the penguins before venturing into such a project.
“However, ironically, later the proposal got clearance from the CZA and the MCGM procured the penguins for the zoo. We believe that there is a big scam in giving permission, which should be investigated.”
The letter further states that as tax payers’ money was used for the procurement and creation of infrastructure for housing the penguins, the BMC should have held a referendum on bringing the penguins to Mumbai.
The letter adds, “We request you to intervene in this matter. As an animal welfare organisation we request you to not to allow any Indian zoo to get exotic animals which cannot adapt to the Indian climate. We also request you to keep a check on import and export of animals listed under CITES and IUCN from India.”
The writer is an intern withThe Hindu
