GURUGRAM: Thirteen days after four exotic tortoises — three Indian Star tortoises and one Red-footed tortoise — were rescued from a private resort in Sohna which allegedly ran a mini zoo, the district wildlife department is yet to prepare a report in the case.
When TOI spoke to wildlife inspector Sunil, he refused to divulge details of the whereabouts of the rescued tortoises. Meanwhile, district wildlife officer Shyam Sunder said, "I'm yet to receive a report from the wildlife inspector in the matter. I have given strict instructions for them to submit the report to me as early as possible. I think I should receive it by Monday."
Suspecting foul play, animal rights activists insisted the tortoises should immediately have been sent to a rescue centre. While the Red-footed tortoise — from northern South America — is not endangered, the Indian Star tortoise is listed as 'vulnerable' in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, and falls under Schedule IV in the Wildlife Protection Act of India, 1972. It cannot be captured or sold.
A Delhi-based activist, Naresh Kadyan, claimed to have alerted the wildlife department about the private resort running the zoo where the tortoises were kept illegally, on December 29 last year. The wildlife department rescued the four tortoises from the resort on January 2, but Kadyan said he was not satisfied with the department's action. He filed a complaint with the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change on January 7 on this.
