Resident rescues four owls

25. 02. 2006

If it were not for Rahul Sarvades prompt actions, the four owls you can see in the picture would not have been alive today.

Sarvade, a 20-year-old resident of LBS Marg, rescued four owls from Mulund Link Road on Feb 17 when an unidentified person was on his way to sell them.

I was chatting with my friends near Link Road when we noticed a man carrying a big black box with holes punched into it. We could also hear noises from inside the box so we questioned the man about the contents of the box. He seemed frightened at being accosted, says Sarvade.

The man said that he was carrying chicken to be sold in the market, but Sarvade was not convinced. I though something was fishy about the whole affair so I told one of my friend to call PAWS. In the meantime, with help from another friend, I forced the man to open the box and found the four owls inside, he adds.

The man finally admitted that he was to deliver the birds to a Bhandup resident who wanted to sacrifice them. He said he regularly got the birds from the National Park. He had been doing that for the past several years, Sarvade adds.

Sunish Subramanian, the PAWS animal welfare officer, says, We got a call from Sarvades friend around 3 pm and we reached the spot in less than five minutes because our office is close to Link Road. The man ran away after seeing our van. We had encountered a similar case last week but werent able to catch him either.

The owls were provided first aid for a day and then sent to SPCA Parel, as required by the Wild Life Act. Naresh Patil, the PAWS vet, says, When the owls were brought to the centre, they were in critical condition. So we kept them here for a day before sending them to Parel.

If you see an animal in distress, call PAWS on 25968314 or 9833480388

Freedom on I-Day for these lovebirds

16 August 2006

An unclaimed brown cardboard box lying on the luggage rack of a local train on Independence Day looked like potential trouble at first. Commuters were ready to press the panic button. But Nisha Kunju, the college girl who first noticed the box, bravely decided to open it. After all, she heard no ticking bomb, just “cheep-tweet” sounds from inside.

In the box were four air starved lovebirds who were being illegally transported.
Kunju noticed the box at around 9 am in a Thane-bound train from Vikhroli.
When she asked others about the box, no one claimed it. “Somebody was illegally transporting these four lovebirds in a box that didn’t even have proper holes for ventilation”, said animal welfare officer Sunish Subramanian of the Plant & Animals Welfare Society – Mumbai (PAWS-Mumbai), which is now caring for the birds. “This truly is freedom for these birds which are exploited by animal traffickers who sell them at high prices”.

Lovebirds are among the smallest parrots in the world. They weigh around 40gm to 60gm each and their beaks are rather large for their overall size. Many lovebirds are green, although colour mutations can spawn varied hues.

They belong to the genus Agapornis, which is Greek for lovebird. The birds are social and affectionate, and form close bonds with mates, usually lasting for life. Their lifespan is approximately 12 to 15 years.

If you see any bird or animal in distress, call PAWS-Mumbai on : 9833480388, 9820678276 or 25968314.

Bird smugglers run into forest dept trap

2 Feb 2009

MUMBAI: The anti-poaching unit, vigilance wing of forest department and the Mumbai team of PAWS on Saturday night trapped a syndicate which sold falcons and hawks by advertising on a website. The forest department has arrested two youths - Farhan Anwar Khan and Mohammed Siddiqui Sayyed aka Javed - and seized their vehicle, a Santro.

Speaking to TOI, assistant conservator of forests Satish Phale of the anti-poaching unit said, "The duo from Dongri had given an ad for the sae of falcons on the website - oxl.com.''

The sale of such birds is banned under Schedule I, Part III of Wildlife Protection Act 1972. The duo asked for a price of Rs 12,000 for each bird.

Sources said that the forest department had earlier laid two traps for them, but were unsuccessful. This time, they called the wildlife smugglers to Santa Cruz airport and managed to nab them on Saturday night. The forest department and PAWS team had posed as decoy customers.

"They had wrapped the bird like a small baby to avoid suspicion and only the head could be seen,'' said Sunish Subramanian of PAWS. These kind of birds have been recently used by Pakistan to spy over Indian territories.

The two were presented before the holiday magistrate's court in Bandra and given seven days' custody. They have been kept in the police lock-up at Thane.

Phale said that the duo gave misleading answers about the source of the bird. "We are trying to find out how many other birds they have. They claim that they found the bird in a graveyard and later gave some vague answer. Our investigations will found the nature of this racket,'' said Phale.

Sunish Subramanian said, "There is evidence to show that the duo has more birds.''

The Junior saviours

10 December 2007

Twelve-year-old Ajay Ramnivas’ classmates are awestruck as the diminutive boy lovingly nurses what they call an “injured eagle” in his hands. This majestic bird - actually from the eagle family, Accipitridae — is the common kite, which he rescued from the streets recently. The Standard VI student of the Guru Nanak English School, Bhandup, explains: “One Saturday, I was playing with my brother and some other friends, when I saw the kite being attacked by crows. It must have gotten very exhausted as it soon fell on the ground. I love birds, so it was just my instinct that I ran to its rescue.”

Later, Ajay along with his little brother Vinay (8), took the birds to an local NGO Plants and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and administered first-aid. A few hours later, the kite was all set to take flight. “When he was okay, we released him in its natural habitat,” quips Vinay excitedly. Today both Ajay and Vinay are members of PAWS, which has now begun special rescue training for young children.

Says Sunish Subramanian, secretary of PAWS, “Children today have become more proactive and aware of animal welfare. Some years ago, kids - especially boys — would often take pride in capturing animals and reptiles and troubling them. Today, they want to save animals.” Subramanian points out that as he noticed more and more school kids showing interest in animal welfare, he decided to train them in rescue activities.

One such junior member in his team is Shitlesh Rajesh Dubey (8), a Standard IV student of UBS English School, Bhandup. One day, Sitlesh called the PAWS helpline stating that he has a guest at his home at Kailash Park, Gamdevi Road. “It was an owl sitting on Sitlesh’s window sill, when he returned from school at 6 pm. The boy said that the bird was very frightened,” Subramanian says, adding, “as all our volunteers were on call that evening, we guided Sitlesh to rescue the bird.”

The PAWS team directed Sitlesh to catch the owl by throwing a cloth on it and keep in a box with ample holes for ventilation. “Sitlesh followed our instruction to the T and later brought the birds to our center. Here, we gave the owl some vitamin drops and by night fall the nocturnal bird was in great shape to fly.”

The organization has several other rescue stories, like the one about their young volunteer Nisha Kunju and her friend Kajal Gupta (11), who recently saved a pigeon from the clutches for a few rowdy boys, pelting stone at the bird. The girls took the injured pigeon to PAWS bird care center and treated it themselves. “Once the bird is better, we will release it,” says Nisha.

Subramanian adds, “It is a good trend that children now take pleasure in rescuing animals and birds rather than harming them. We are ready to support the little saviours in every way and want to equip them to do first-aid on their own even if welfare organizations are busy.”

Retiring sniffer dogs find new home in Nagpur

October 20, 2007

Mumbai, October 19 After having sniffed narcotics for the Bombay Customs Department for nearly nine years, two sniffer dogs embarked on their journey towards a peaceful retired life at a Nagpur bungalow on Wednesday. Purebred labradors, Maya and Pinky, are the first two dogs of the Customs to have been successfully put up for adoption.
According to G Ravindranath, additional commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Airport, Maya and Pinky became members of the Customs team in 1998 as newborn pups. “These dogs have a highly specialised job of sniffing drugs at the airport. For this, they have to be very alert and we, following a policy, have to release them from duty after nine years of age.” Both Maya and Pinky will turn nine in January.

Having been a part of several drug busts in the past, the Customs wanted the dogs to experience a restful retired life. “They have served us diligently for long and we didn’t want to condemn them. That’s why we thought of putting them up for adoption,” says P V Reddy, commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Airport.

So, in August, the department contacted animal welfare organisation Plants and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and enquired about the adoption procedure. While initially chances of anybody coming forward to adopt 9-year-old female dogs seemed bleak, PAWS decided to take up the challenge.

Says Sunish Subramanian, secretary of PAWS, “I’ve heard that these dogs are put to sleep after their tenure. They serve us all their life and are a national pride. I really wanted them to find new homes, so I agreed.” PAWS then started notifying people through text messages, and emails.

“It is strange,” said Subramanian, “we were informing people in Mumbai, but news travelled all the way to Nagpur and in just two months, we got a patron.”

Last week, a veterinarian and animal lover Dr Shekhar Parkhi from Nagpur, approached PAWS, expressing interest in Maya and Pinky. Parkhi, who has a bungalow and a farmhouse in Nagpur, was looking for a docile pet for his four-year-old son. “The decision was instant,” he said, “I saw the dogs and knew I wanted to take them home. They are of good breed and very well-behaved and I wanted to give them a chance at life.” Soon the deal was finalised, and the dogs’ licences transferred. On Tuesday, Parkhi became the official owner of Maya and Pinky.

After a strenuous train journey of eight hours, Maya and Pinky were introduced to the Parkhi family on Thursday.

“They have settled well with us,” said Parkhi. After having a lunch of meat chops, lauki, pumpkin, rice and milk, the dogs looked quite rested in their new environment, Parkhi added. “Of course, these dogs have sniffed drugs all their life and do show signs of respiratory problems. But I am a doctor and can ensure that their remaining life passes peacefully. If they show addiction problems, I will take care of it by slowly diverting them,” said the vet, rather enthusiastically.

Parkhi conveyed a special thanks to the dogs’ handlers, “who were emotionally moved while saying goodbye their pets”.

Finally, Powai deer breathe free

January 30, 2009

Mumbai: About 85 deer languishing in an illegal enclosure at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Powai park for more than 40 years have finally found freedom. The state forest department on Thursday confirmed that the deer have been rehabilitated in the wild at the Tungareshwar wildlife sanctuary, nearly two years after the plan was finalised.

P N Munde, conservator of forest, SGNP-Borivali, said, “We shifted the deer nearly a month ago. The animals were transported in batches in special trucks as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines.”

According to B Majumdar, chief wildlife warden of Maharashtra, “First, the animals were all medically tested and declared fit for rehabilitation. Our other concerns were to remove the animals without causing them any trauma and ensure that the new habitat is closest to their original one.” Majumder added that as part of the rehabilitation, the animals were kept and fed in an enclosure at Tungareshwar for a few days before being exposed to the wild.

The issue of the illegal zoo was first reported by Newsline in April 2007, when animal welfare NGO Plants and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) alleged that the deer were kept there illegally and in poor conditions and maintained by the BMC’s hydraulic department at a cost of over Rs 15 lakh a year. PAWS alleged that the deer faced floods every monsoon as the garden is situated in a low-lying area.

In February 2006, the BMC requested the forest officials to release the deer into Sanjay Gandhi National Park following which, the forest department seized the animals on April 1, 2006. They had stated that the BMC neither had permission from the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) nor the Wildlife Authority to keep them in their custody and display them.

The seizure was executed under the Wildlife Conservation Act of 1972 and Central Zoo Act of 1992. However, after the seizure, the animals were handed back to the BMC to be kept in the same conditions “till further instruction”.

Sunish Subramanian, member secretary of PAWS, who recently visited Tungareshwar to track the deer said, “For the last three years we have been repeatedly updating the plight of the deer to the forest officials and requesting to speed up the rehabilitation act. But it’s good news that besides the deer, several other animals that were kept captive in the park have also been freed. These included a couple of ducks, rabbits and other smaller wildlife.”

Activists seize 5 spiny-tailed lizards

Thursday, October 13 2005

MUMBAI: Myth and legend are the real killers of these spiny-tailed lizards that are poached from forests for their oil, which is mistakenly assumed to contain 'magical powers'.

Protected under schedule-2 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, five such spiny-tailed lizards (locally known as 'sanda') were recently seized in Bhandup by the wildlife authorities. However, the person peddling the oil extracted from these lizards managed to flee from the spot after animal activists photographed him selling his products.

Nearly 40 dead 'sandas' were also recovered along with five live ones. "We had prior information that this person was trying to sell 'sanda oil' to the public near Jain Mandir in Bhandup (West) by saying that it is an aphrodisiac or desi viagra and can also cure painful joints," said animal activist Sunish Subramanian of Plant & Animals Welfare Society (PAWS).

However, as the PAWS activists seized the oil jars and lizards, the peddlar managed to escape. Of the five spiny-tailed lizards handed over to officials at Sanjay Gandhi National Park, one more succumbed due to injuries inflicted by the poachers.

"The backbone of these lizards is deliberately broken so that they do not run away. Ultimately, they are boiled in water to extract its oil," said Subramanian. The SGNP veterinarian, Dr Kishore Batwe, told TOI that the scientific name of the spiny-tailed lizard is 'Uromastyx hardwickii' and they are found in the forests of India and Pakistan.

"They look like monitor lizards (ghorpad) which is also hunted due to superstitious beliefs," said Dr Batwe. Inspector Sunil Ranade of the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) said that nearly 15 monitor lizards and spiny-tailed lizards have been seized in the last two years.

"However, due to growing awareness, the poachers normally avoid coming to Mumbai these days," said Ranade. He added that while monitor lizards can grow up to four feet in length, the sandas are smaller and reach a length of 2-3 feet.

"It's an age-old myth that their body oil can cure joint or muscular illnesses or even improve sexual prowess. Some also kill them for its meat," said Ranade. If you see any animal in distress call the BSPCA on 24137518 / 24135434 and PAWS on 9820678276 / 25968314