Thirty-one wild animals of ten species were rescued from an unlicensed mini zoo set up inside Modern Fantasy Kingdom, a children's park and picnic spot at Kolukathi in Naria upazila of Shariatpur. The Forest Department and its Wildlife Crime Control Unit carried out the day-long joint operation on Sunday, 16 February 2025. According to Prothom Alo, the operation went on until 7 pm.
The animals that were rescued
The Forest Department and the Wildlife Crime Control Unit said the animals had been kept in cages and put on display at the mini zoo for a long time. Prothom Alo reported the following list of rescued animals:
- 1 bear
- 1 freshwater crocodile
- 1 Burmese python
- 8 porcupines
- 1 fishing cat
- 2 jungle cats (bonbiral)
- 2 swamphens (kalim)
- 10 doves
- 2 parakeets (tia)
- 3 cotton pygmy geese (balihash)
The fishing cat is a wetland animal found across South and Southeast Asia, Bangladesh included. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed it as Vulnerable since 2016; the loss of wetlands and killing by people are the main threats to it.
A zoo run without a licence
Citing the Forest Department and the park, Prothom Alo reported that Modern Fantasy Kingdom and its mini zoo were set up on the bank of the Padma river in 2005. The amusement park had approval, but there was no permission to run the small zoo inside it. The Padma flows through the northern part of Naria upazila.
The park's manager, Nazrul Islam, told Jagonews24 that they had not known the animals could not be kept this way, and that they handed the animals over once the officials came and explained. He told Prothom Alo: "In the past 20 years we never faced any obstacle. Now that we have, we will not run it any more."
What the law says
Rathindra Kumar Biswas, wildlife and biodiversity conservation officer of the Forest Department, said that under the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012, collecting, possessing, displaying or keeping wild animals is a punishable offence. He said they had information that native wild animals were being kept in cages and displayed there without permission, which led to the raid.
The law, Act No. 30 of 2012, dates from 10 July 2012. Section 31 allows the government to form a Wildlife Crime Control Unit, and section 32 empowers officers to seize wild animals possessed without a licence. Section 30 provides for rescue centres to give treatment, food and shelter to injured or seized wildlife.
Biswas told Prothom Alo that the park had given a written undertaking never to keep or display wild animals again, and that no legal action was therefore taken against it.
Where the animals went
The team released the birds into the wild on the same day. Prothom Alo reported that the other animals were taken to Dhaka, where they were to be treated for a few days before being handed to Gazipur Safari Park. Biswas also told Jagonews24 that some animals would be taken to Gazipur Safari Park and some had been released.
Gazipur Safari Park, about 40 km north of Dhaka near the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, is run by the Forest Department. Set in sal forest, it opened on 31 October 2013.
Photo: Cliff / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Sources: Jagonews24, Prothom Alo, Laws of Bangladesh (bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd), Wikipedia
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