Acting on a complaint that monkeys from the wild were being kept at a park, the Wildlife Crime Control Unit raided Nila-Barsha River Queen Park and rescued two caged monkeys. The team took no action against the park authorities, however, because they had not been aware of the wildlife law.

The raid on the park in the Nama Bazar area of Savar took place on Tuesday afternoon, led by Nargis Sultana Liza, the unit's regional inspector. The Deep Ecology and Snake Rescue Foundation accompanied the team.

Inspector Nargis Sultana said the raid followed a tip-off that a number of live animals were being kept captive at the park. Two rhesus monkeys, also known as red monkeys (scientific name Macaca mulatta), were recovered.

She said that because the park authorities had not been aware of the wildlife law, they voluntarily handed the two monkeys over. "We will release the two monkeys in a suitable environment," she said.

Mahfuzur Rahman, president of the Deep Ecology and Snake Rescue Foundation, said keeping, capturing or transporting wild animals is a punishable offence under the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act 2012. The park authorities had kept the animals in good faith without knowing this, he said.

He said they had pledged not to display wild animals illegally in future and to keep only properly licensed animals, so no legal action was taken.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.