Eight endangered Java Sparrows (Lonchura oryzivora) were rescued from a pet shop near the Ooty Municipal Market by the T.N. Forest Department with the help of local conservationists on Monday (April 8, 2024) morning.
The species, listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), was found at the shop by wildlife biologists working in the Nilgiris on Sunday, April 7, and they subsequently notified the Forest Department.
Following the tip-off, an investigation was undertaken by the Forest Department at Aquatic Kingdom, the pet shop where the birds were being sold. “After an investigation, the owners admitted that the birds were being kept and sold,” said a Forest Department official, adding that a few of the birds had already been sold to buyers.
