Mumbai: The Customs Department has seized alive seven exotic birds and three monkeys smuggled from Thailand at the Mumbai airport and detained two passengers. Officials gave this information on Saturday.
Three of the seven birds were found dead while unpacking the consignment, while the survivors will be sent back to the East Asian country, a forest department official said.
The luggage of two passengers who landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Friday was searched on suspicion and seven flame bowerbirds, two cottontop tamarin monkeys and a marmoset monkey were found hidden in the luggage, a customs official said.
He said that three birds were found dead.
The surviving birds and monkeys were handed over to the Resink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) for treatment.
They were dehydrated and stressed, said Pawan Sharma, RAW chairman and honorary wildlife warden of the Maharashtra Forest Department.
Dr Reena Dev and a team of rescue workers and rehabilitators treated him and handed him back to Customs, he said.
Since the animals and birds are not of Indian origin, they will be sent back to Thailand as per the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, the forest official said.
Three of the seven birds were found dead while unpacking the consignment, while the survivors will be sent back to the East Asian country, a forest department official said.
The luggage of two passengers who landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Friday was searched on suspicion and seven flame bowerbirds, two cottontop tamarin monkeys and a marmoset monkey were found hidden in the luggage, a customs official said.
He said that three birds were found dead.
The surviving birds and monkeys were handed over to the Resink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) for treatment.
They were dehydrated and stressed, said Pawan Sharma, RAW chairman and honorary wildlife warden of the Maharashtra Forest Department.
Dr Reena Dev and a team of rescue workers and rehabilitators treated him and handed him back to Customs, he said.
Since the animals and birds are not of Indian origin, they will be sent back to Thailand as per the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, the forest official said.
