In what appears to be a positive response to the appeal made by the Forest Department to the public to surrender parakeets that were kept as pets, people handed over 130 of them as on Friday.
The returned birds largely were Rose-ringed parakeets (Psittacula krameri). Officials said that all the parakeets found in India are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and keeping them as pet is an offence. This was conveyed to the public during a recently launched campaign and people, who kept them as pets, came forward to hand them over fearing legal action, they said.
Many people, who kept parakeets in their homes, were unaware of the illegality of possessing them as pets. They volunteered to handover the birds.
