Coimbatore: An unrelenting and habitual woman offender who has been selling Rose-ringed parakeets in and around Coimbatore for many years, on Saturday was caught red handed and handed over to the forest officials by nature enthusiasts.
Coimbatore: An unrelenting and habitual woman offender who has been selling Rose-ringed parakeets and other wild birds in and around Coimbatore for many years, on Saturday was caught red handed and handed over to the forest officials by nature enthusiasts.
The woman, identified as Krishnaveni, was caught by members of the Animal Rescuers organisation, who spotted her selling the parakeets at Thudiyalur in broad daylight. She was involved in the act along with another unidentified woman.
The duo reportedly possessed upto 60 birds each that were sold at a price of Rs. 700 per pair. They had sold upto 27 pairs of birds since morning on Saturday before being confronted by the volunteers.
The birds were put inside small cages after cutting off their nails and clipping their beaks and primary flight feathers.
Notably, this is the not first incident when Krishnaveni was confronted for selling wild rose ringed parakeets that are protected under schedule 4 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
She was earlier caught in 2016 near Walayar for selling parakeets along with her husband and another relative.
Interestingly, her tip off had helped rescue more than 1000 rose ringed parakeets, alexandrine parakeets, munias and other wild birds in 12 places all over Tamil Nadu back then.
Krishnaveni, who claims to hail from Avinashi in Tirupur, was also involved in a similar incident in Thrissur, wherein she was booked by Kerala foresters for selling rose ringed parakeets.
Since no stringent actions were taken against her, she has been continuing the act until Saturday. She was reportedly spotted in areas including Vellalore, Sungam Bypass Road, Vellakinaru pirivu, Saravanampatti and Keeranatham in Coimbatore and in a few places in Tirupur and Dharmapuri districts. She was spotted more than four times by the volunteers around Saravanampatti in the previous week selling parakeets.
Krishnaveni was taken to the Coimbatore forest range office for enquiry on Saturday. Reacting to the issue, Additional Principal Conservator of Forests Debasis Jana, the Chief Conservator of Forests for Coimbatore Circle said he would direct his team to do the needful in the case.
Meanwhile, nature enthusiasts have requested department officials to remand Krishnaveni, as she has been selling a protected bird species for many years.
District Forest Officer D. Venkatesh said that an enquiry has been initiated, adding that necessary actions would be taken.
C. Badrasamy, a retired forest official who was the former Honorary Wildlife Warden of Coimbatore Forest Division also said that such offenders must be remanded in judicial custody to curb wildlife trade in the future.
“In the earlier times, the department struggled to arrest and investigate women since we did not have much women staff. Now that many women have come to the department, it is high time that they be used in such operations so that the offenders are punished regardless of their gender,” he said.