Forest officials rescue 40 wild parrots in Odisha, arrest one

Rourkela (Odisha), Feb 2 (PTI) Officials of the forest department in Odisha have arrested a wildlife trader and rescued 40 wild parrots from his possession from a house in Sundergarh district, an official said on Friday.

The parrots, mostly chicks, were about to be sold to different clients.

A forest department team led by Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Shulapani Das with ranger Prasanna Pradhan raided the house of one Tahir Ansari (50) and rescued the birds from a village near Nuagaon forest area under the Rourkela forest division on Thursday, the official said.

A total of 82 parrot chicks were rescued from another person a week ago, he said.

“A wildlife gang is working in this area. We had information that Ansari had kept parrot chicks in his house, and our team raided the place and rescued the birds,” the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Rourkela, Jasobanth Sethi, said.