NAGPUR: The Animal Welfare Board of India
(AWBI), a statutory body constituted under the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals Act 1960, on Wednesday ordered inspection of upkeep of animals
in Amar Circus camped at Kasturchand Park in the city.
The probe has been ordered on a complaint filed by Naresh Kadyan, chairman of People For Animals (PFA), Haryana, on May 25. S Vinod Kumaar, assistant secretary of AWBI, under the ministry of environment & forest (MoEF), has asked district collector to constitute a committee with SN Kapoor, who is co-opted member of the AWBI, along with one officer each from the forest and animal husbandry department.
Kapoor said he is in touch with the officials concerned and actual inspection will start after the constitution of the committee. District collector Saurabh Rao was busy with the guardian minister and hence was not available for comments.
The AWBI was constituted for the promotion of animal welfare generally and for the purpose of protecting animals from being subjected to unnecessary pain or suffering, in particular.
The AWBI has been registering performing animals in films, serials, circus under Performing Animals (Registration) Rules 2001. On May 13, 2004, Amar Circus was issued registration by AWBI for 4 elephants, 6 horses, 12 dogs, 1 hippo, 10 parrots, 4 camels and 1 bull.
The collector has been asked to carry out inspection as per Rule 14 of the Performing Animals (Registration) Rules and submit a report for each of the performing and sheltered animals in the Amar Circus.
The committee has been asked to look into animals' health, vaccination and veterinary treatment registers, proper feeding and watering, ownership certificate of animals, number of animals with species, condition of cages whether exhibiting in circus, whether special permission taken for breeding in cage, sufficient exercises undertaken or not and cruelty meted to animals if any.
Kadyan says, "In 2005 when Amar Circus was in Ludhiana in Punjab, we found that hippo was having opacity of eyes and he was not able to see. We got inspection done and performance of hippo was stopped. Making blind animals perform is cruelty. The circus virtually ran away from Ludhiana to Gurgaon. The same circus is now performing in Maharashtra."
On the contrary, Karishma Galani, animal welfare officer and in charge of PFA, Nagpur, says the PFA will oppose any move to rehabilitate the hippo. "We did an inspection of Amar Circus animals and found that animals were fed well," she said.
Another reason not to rehabilitate the animals is that there is no infrastructure with either the forest or the animal husbandry departments. "The animals are at least fed in the circus. They will be left to die if shifted elsewhere," Galani said.
Why Circus Hippos Are Blind?
The hippos are very large and ferocious animals. Its eyes are purportedly damaged so that control becomes easy, or may be due to dirty dingy water and atmosphere its eyes get infected leading to corneal opacity (cataract).
How To Check Hippo Vision?
Don't make noise or allow the circus people speak. Go silently towards its enclosure and show the animal food. If it opens mouth it's OK. If he doesn't it means something is wrong.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/AWBI-orders-inspection-of-Amar-Circus/articleshow/13912840.cms
The probe has been ordered on a complaint filed by Naresh Kadyan, chairman of People For Animals (PFA), Haryana, on May 25. S Vinod Kumaar, assistant secretary of AWBI, under the ministry of environment & forest (MoEF), has asked district collector to constitute a committee with SN Kapoor, who is co-opted member of the AWBI, along with one officer each from the forest and animal husbandry department.
Kapoor said he is in touch with the officials concerned and actual inspection will start after the constitution of the committee. District collector Saurabh Rao was busy with the guardian minister and hence was not available for comments.
The AWBI was constituted for the promotion of animal welfare generally and for the purpose of protecting animals from being subjected to unnecessary pain or suffering, in particular.
The AWBI has been registering performing animals in films, serials, circus under Performing Animals (Registration) Rules 2001. On May 13, 2004, Amar Circus was issued registration by AWBI for 4 elephants, 6 horses, 12 dogs, 1 hippo, 10 parrots, 4 camels and 1 bull.
The collector has been asked to carry out inspection as per Rule 14 of the Performing Animals (Registration) Rules and submit a report for each of the performing and sheltered animals in the Amar Circus.
The committee has been asked to look into animals' health, vaccination and veterinary treatment registers, proper feeding and watering, ownership certificate of animals, number of animals with species, condition of cages whether exhibiting in circus, whether special permission taken for breeding in cage, sufficient exercises undertaken or not and cruelty meted to animals if any.
Kadyan says, "In 2005 when Amar Circus was in Ludhiana in Punjab, we found that hippo was having opacity of eyes and he was not able to see. We got inspection done and performance of hippo was stopped. Making blind animals perform is cruelty. The circus virtually ran away from Ludhiana to Gurgaon. The same circus is now performing in Maharashtra."
On the contrary, Karishma Galani, animal welfare officer and in charge of PFA, Nagpur, says the PFA will oppose any move to rehabilitate the hippo. "We did an inspection of Amar Circus animals and found that animals were fed well," she said.
Another reason not to rehabilitate the animals is that there is no infrastructure with either the forest or the animal husbandry departments. "The animals are at least fed in the circus. They will be left to die if shifted elsewhere," Galani said.
Why Circus Hippos Are Blind?
The hippos are very large and ferocious animals. Its eyes are purportedly damaged so that control becomes easy, or may be due to dirty dingy water and atmosphere its eyes get infected leading to corneal opacity (cataract).
How To Check Hippo Vision?
Don't make noise or allow the circus people speak. Go silently towards its enclosure and show the animal food. If it opens mouth it's OK. If he doesn't it means something is wrong.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/AWBI-orders-inspection-of-Amar-Circus/articleshow/13912840.cms
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