Rare species on sale in violation of law
Orders for birds and animals are taken with a down-payment while deliveries are made once the full payment is cleared
Syed Tashfin Chowdhury
A few extremely rare species including eagle and python are being sold as pets in several shops in Thantharibazar area of the city in open violation of the wildlife protection act.While visiting the shops this correspondent found five to six different species of birds and animals being sold there. An eagle, local doves, pythons, storks and other birds and animals are on display for sale. The eagle is priced at Tk 3,000 and a python at Tk 15,000. The birds and animals are kept in small cages. "We can get you any animal you want," said Mintoo, a salesman of a shop when asked about the availability of other rare animals. Customers can order any animal or bird making payment of a portion of its price. The delivery is made on full payment on a date specified by the sellers. "We buy these animals from the villagers and the residents of city outskirts," said another employee of the shop. These shops have brokers who collect the birds and animals from Demra, Jinjira, Postogola and other places. The shopkeepers said such animals and birds have high demand. The buyers are city dwellers who own mini-zoos and have an affinity towards pet animals. "These shops supply different species of birds and animals to the pet shops in Katabon in the city," said Vivek, a pigeon lover and regular customer of Thantharibazar. The sellers do not care about the law that restricts sale of wildlife. Under the existing law on wildlife protection act, a person found guilty of selling such animals can be sentenced to six months to one-year imprisonment along with a fine of Tk 500 to Tk 1000, said an official of the environment and forest ministry. When asked about the selling of rare wild animals and birds in public, he said they lack necessary manpower to contain such illegal practices. "We will definitely try to put an end to such illegal business," he said. Thantharibazar is also popular for the abundant varieties of pigeons and other birds, the sale of which is very much lawful under the wildlife protection act. But keeping birds and animals in cages can cause their early deaths. "While in captivity these animals succumb to frustrations," said Professor Nurjahan Sarkar of the Department of Zoology, Dhaka University. "Such a mental stress usually kills them in cages."
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