New Delhi: A Pune-based NGO tasked with managing a rescue centre at the city zoo is under the scanner of the Maharashtra forest department, which has flagged alleged wildlife mismanagement and a “clear mismatch” in its official records.
While the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park & Wildlife Research Centre is run by the Pune Municipal Corporation, the Indian Herpetological Society (IHS) had been managing its rescue centre — the Wild Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation Centre (WARRC) — for 15 years.
According to a report by Aditya Paranjpe, honorary wildlife warden, Pune district, the rescue centre at the zoo in Katraj released 612 wild animals — including Russell’s vipers, cobras and other venomous snakes — outside of their habitat over the last two years. ThePrint has seen the report.
As a matter of practice, rescued animals are released within their home range to avoid any future conflict.
Paranjpe’s report, submitted in April, also found alleged gaps in the records of 328 animals, including rusty spotted cats, cobras, barn owls, and pangolins. He also claimed that two hyenas and two antelopes were released within the zoo instead of their habitat.
The state forest department set up an inquiry committee in June to look into the claims. This is the second such panel to be set up, the first one was established in April, soon after Paranjpe submitted this report.
Deputy Conservator of Forest Mahadev Mohite told ThePrint that the committee is expected to submit its report by Friday, depending on which action will be taken.
He added: “There is a clear mismatch in the records of animals. Whether the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park authorities were also part of the mismanagement will become clear after their response is assessed.”
Paranjape said the forest department is currently assessing a response from zoo director Rajkumar Jadhav. “I will ensure they (forest department) take action. If nothing is done, I will myself lodge an FIR in a district court,” he told ThePrint.
The wildlife warden further said that there is no evidence yet that the animals were trafficked, but the missing records are suspicious. “The NGO has given us enough reason to see them with suspicion as it is not that difficult to update these records.”
Most of the animals in WARRC, now closed, are Schedule I species under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, and have been moved to a different facility. Schedule I of the Act covers endangered species that need rigorous protection and are granted protection from poaching, killing, trading etc.
In a telephonic conversation, zoo director Jadhav told ThePrint: “Every act of mine has been done in the official framework and for the welfare of the animals. There was nothing illegal here. The forest officials wanted us to take these animals (two hyenas and two antelopes allegedly released within the zoo) because it was very clear that they could not be released into the wild. Last week, I put forth all the documentation regarding my moves to DCF.”
Jadhav further said that the zoo had written to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) last year to “ask for permission to put these animals — which cannot be released back into the wild — for scientific use, exhibition purposes or breeding programmes”.
He added: “We are waiting for a nod from the CZA. These animals can no longer be released into the wild because they are acclimatised to zoo animals.”
Shriram Shinde, a trustee at IHS and curator of WARRC, told ThePrint over phone that the NGO had written to the forest department in April promising to rectify their records if there were faults in them.
Asked specifically about the allegations pertaining to missing records and incorrect practices of releasing animals back into the wild, Shinde said: “Nothing like that has happened.” He, however, conceded that the zoo had taken two hyenas and two antelopes from the centre despite having no explicit approval from CZA.
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‘Bizarre, illegal’
According to sources privy to the developments, while sporadic reports of mismanagement by the IHS had been reported previously as well, the full scale of the problem became apparent after Paranjpe analysed records on the Maharashtra government’s Captive Wildlife Management System portal.
Launched two years ago by the state forest department, the portal is aimed at keeping track of captive as well as rescued wild animals.
“This system helps keep track of each and every animal that is brought to any rescue centre in the state,” Paranjape said. “Rescuers have to report whether an animal was treated in the field or admitted to the centre. The records of when and where they have been released, or details of death along with pictures have to be uploaded.”
It was through this that Paranjpe found records of hundreds of rescued animals allegedly missing and others having been released outside their home range.
“We found that four wild animals — two hyenas and two antelopes — had been taken into the zoo instead of being released in the wild without the director having taken the requisite permissions,” Paranjpe told ThePrint.
The antelopes, he claimed, were mated while in captivity and became pregnant. “This is absolutely bizarre and illegal,” he said.
Tushar Chavan, then the deputy conservator of forest for Pune who conducted the department’s first inquiry in April, submitted a detailed report on his findings to the Maharashtra chief wildlife warden. According to this report, which the Print had accessed, forest officials found that 129 animals — including leopards, chinkaras, four-horned antelopes, and jackals — have been in “extended captivity” from three months to 10 years.
Chavan’s report also cites two instances of “incomplete” records. The first one is about two rusty spotted cats being admitted to the centre in June 2022 and August 2022. According to the report, entries for them on the Captive Wildlife Management System have the same photograph for both animals, which eventually died.
The second instance pertains to alleged missing records on pangolins and crocodiles. According to the report, although several of these were reportedly admitted to the WARRC, there are no data entries.
The forest department’s second inquiry in June, meanwhile, had found that the IHS centre had 643 animals, of which 490 needed long-term care and could even be unsuitable to be released back into the wild. These included blackbucks, leopards, and several species of birds and reptiles.
IHS trustee and WARRC curator Shriram Shinde, quoted earlier, said the NGO had decided to shut down the rescue centre in May.
“Our leadership Neelimkumar Khaire (executive director) and Anil Khaire (late chairman) were running the centre. Anil Khaire lost his life in October, and this loss deeply affected his brother Neelimkumar Khaire. Both his physical and mental health were affected, due to which he no longer wished to continue running IHS,” Shinde said.
The trust had written to Pune Municipal Corporation the same month to convey its intentions to shut down the centre, he said, adding that some exotic birds are still at the facility because the zoo “is interested in keeping them and communicated this to the CZA”.
“Last week, the CZA came to take stock of the animals and we are awaiting their nod,” he further said.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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