Turtle seized from hotel in city

BHUBANESWAR: The officials of City Forest Division on Saturday conducted several raids in the hotels and shops at Ekamra Haat in the city and seized one squirrel, one parrot and a turtle from a hotel pool. The forest officials lodged a case under section-4 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 against IDCO official who is in the charge of the Haat.

On a tip-off, the forest officials conducted raids on the shops and hotels in the Haat and found a squirrel, parrot and turtle from the haat. The officials dried the pool and recovered the turtle. “According to the Wild Life Act, keeping the wild animals in the house or hotels is illegal. That’s why we conducted raid and lodged a case against the in charge of the Haat for violating the act,” said forest official Sasmita Lenka.

On the other hand, the owner of the hotel Chandrabati Jogania said the turtle was attacked by the dogs and to save from the dogs, they kept in the pool, while the IDCO official RK Nayak said he didn’t know about the wild animals that were kept in the Haat.

It may be noted that three turtles from a city hotel near Nalco square on September 3 night and after two days six turtles from Hi-tech Medical College and Hospital campus were seized by officials of the City Forest Division.