GUWAHATI: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee has strongly condemned the transfer of two black panthers from the Assam State Zoo cum Botanical Garden to a private zoo of the Ambani Business group in Gujarat.
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In an official statement, Congress stated, “It seems that even wild animals kept in captivity in zoos cannot escape from the tentacles of big corporate houses, as the recent ‘hush- hush’ transfer of two black panthers from the State Zoo in Guwahati to a zoo in Gujarat being set up by the Reliance group of the Ambanis has proved.”
“Despite the hue and cry accompanying the transfer of three elephants from Assam to a temple in Gujarat a year back, two black panthers from the Assam State Zoo were transferred to the Greens Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Centre, being set up by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries at Jamnagar in Gujarat, in a secret manner during the second week of January, without the knowledge of animal lovers and conservationists in the state,” the statement read.
Although senior forest officials have said that the transfer is part of an exchange program under which the Jamnagar centre would help Assam acquire four zebras from Israel, Congress claims that “the document produced by him (forest official) did not mention any such exchange and only states that the animals were ‘acquisitioned’ for the purpose of ‘display’. There is no mention of any exchange of animals in the letter addressed to the PCCF (Wildlife) of Assam.”
The Assam Congress had demanded an enquiry on the matter by the state government.
Also read | Assam Zoo to Get Zebras From Israel