As many as 156 Alexandrine parakeets were seized and a person arrested for illegal trade of the birds in a joint operation by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and the Forest protection and vigilance squad.
Following a tip-off, officials from the forest department here and the WCCB raided the house of Mujeeb Haasan, a resident of Aynavaram and found the parakeets.
The birds are reportedly found in areas near the Andhra Pradesh border and poachers generally take hatchlings from there and sell them to traders. The birds, which are illegally sold at pet shops for over ₹2,000, are kept confined in cages as pets.
The Indian Parakeets come under Schedule lV of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Pradeep, Inspector with the WCCB, said that the person who had been arrested was a repeat offender and had been convicted before of indulging in illegal trade of protected birds.
Lack of awareness
“A large number of people are still unaware that it is illegal to confine these birds in cages and keep them in homes,” he said.
