Eight endangered Java Sparrows (Lonchura oryzivora) were rescued from a pet shop near the Ooty Municipal Market by the T.N. Forest Department with the help of local conservationists on Monday (April 8, 2024) morning.
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The species, listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), was found at the shop by wildlife biologists working in the Nilgiris on Sunday, April 7, and they subsequently notified the Forest Department.
Following the tip-off, an investigation was undertaken by the Forest Department at Aquatic Kingdom, the pet shop where the birds were being sold. “After an investigation, the owners admitted that the birds were being kept and sold,” said a Forest Department official, adding that a few of the birds had already been sold to buyers.
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The team of investigators checked CCTV footage to track down the buyers and succeeded in doing so. On interrogation, investigators learned that the shop owners did not realize that the species was protected under CITES. “Further investigations as to who had sold the birds to the shopkeepers in Udhagamandalam and from where they were procured are being undertaken,” officials said.
N. Sadiq Ali, founder of the Wildlife and Nature Conservation Trust (WNCT) who had assisted the Forest Department in tracking down the birds sold already, said Department should hold meetings with pet shop owners across the State with regard to wildlife that is protected under CITES, and warn them of strict action that will be undertaken if traders continue to sell these species to buyers.
The Java Sparrows, due to being trapped for sale to be sold as pets, are listed as “endangered” in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. There are believed to be less than 10,000 individuals in their native habitats in Indonesia.