Dear Friends,
Recently we received a couple of phone calls and an sms message which informed us of the sad plight of three Persian cats and a few birds inside a very dirty cage. The prompts originated from neighbours who live in and around the vicinity, where the alleged crimes against these hapless animals were being perpetrated.
We proceeded to check out the claims of animal abuse, but could only see the cats from the rear end of what we realized was a fabrication workshop. We managed to find the main entrance into the shop, where approximately ten workers were labouring in the usual filthy conditions.
Our investigations led us to a shocking discovery! At the very rear end of the workshop, the owner had fabricated cages, two of which housed turkeys, Indian hens, pheasants and geese – all in a 200 sq. ft enclosure. We would like to add at this point that the cages were devoid of a single drop of water or morsel of food for the hapless animals.
The three cats were locked up in a pitifully small cage, without any sunlight or any other source of light for that matter. However, when we also found three large Star Tortoises in a cage, we knew we had to have them picked up immediately. Their legs were stretching unnaturally on all sides on account of walking on the tiled floor. There were some ladyfingers strewn around for the reptiles to eat, but not a single bowl of water.
Further on, near the entrance, we found a 4×7 dungeon-like enclosure with around 15 goats tied to the charactertistic miniscule ropes that we find on cattle so often. The area was so small that the goats were literally sitting one on top of the other! Apart from the goats, we also found several pigeons and what could have been either cockatiels or budgerigars (we couldn’t really see that well in the darkness there).
The place stank due to the overcrowding and the wet floors and lack of sunlight didn’t ease the situation at all. We clicked some pictures and immediately went to the Versova Police Station to lodge a complaint there.
The police were co-operative and I got them to speak with the Chief Conservator of Forests who confirmed that the reptiles were indeed Star Tortoises and Scheduled animals. We returned to the workshop with the police jeep and began the panchanama on the spot. The owners arrived in the midst of the investigation and were visibly ruffled and unhappy with us for interfering in their affairs like we did. However the police investigation had already begun and there was no way for them to change anything in anyway – yay!
We got the Star Tortoises packed up and removed from the premises. They were brought back to the police station. The owners meanwhile were detained, while we completed lodging the FIR. The one happy twist to this story was that the Chief Conservator of Forests and the police inspector handling the case, turned out to be long lost friends from the IPS era and were reunited with much thrill on both sides!
And now, to the most savoury part of the story – the owner of the place was produced in court and remanded to custody in jail. He is now probably languishing in Arthur Jail now. The court will decide about the fate of the other animals on Monday and we expect the judgement to be in their favour – Godwilling! Or else we have to lodge another NC and have the court order them to be picked up.
—–Team TSPCA