Officials busy celebrating Wildlife Week, sick animals not treated

Officials busy celebrating Wildlife Week, sick animals not treated Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Vicky Singh with his parrot outside the Wildlife Dispensary at Manda Hills in Jammu on Saturday. Tribune Photo: Inderjeet Singh

Jammu, October 8
Though the Department of Wildlife Protection has celebrated Wildlife Week by organising a number of awareness camps, the people, who have been visiting its head office at Manda Hills here with sick and injured animals and birds, were allegedly ignored.
The visitors were not attended to as the department officials had been busy organising a cultural programme for the closing ceremony this morning.
Vicky Singh, a florist from Sarwal market, alleged that he took his parrot to the Wildlife Dispensary, where an official told him to go to some other hospital in the city. “My Mithu (parrot) has not been able to fly since last evening. When I brought it here the official at the dispensary told me to go to some other government hospital,” alleged Vicky. He added, “The department asks people to save the wildlife, but at the same time its staff don’t even care to attend to the injured animals and birds.”
Vicky said, “Mithu is living with us for the past one and a half year, but his sudden illness worries me. I requested the official at the dispensary twice to call the doctor, but to no avail.”
Abdul Wahid, in-charge of Deer Park, who was at the dispensary, said, “This man came here with a parrot and told me about its illness. When the doctor is not there, how can the bird be treated?” He added, “I asked him to go to some other hospital in the city as the Wildlife Week celebrations were going on here.”
Meanwhile, the incident took place when students from various schools of the city were presenting colourful programmes there. They were dressed up as animals and trees. All senior officials of the department, including Upender Pachnanda, Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), witnessed the celebrations at the auditorium.