Twenty-three monitor lizards have found a new home at Anna Arignar Zoological Park in Vandalur.
This is thanks to the efforts of the intelligence wing of the State forests department, World Wide Fund for Nature–India (WWF-I) and forest officials of Pudukottai district.
Last week, officials got a tip-off that monitor lizards caught from the forests were being skinned, and their meat sold from a tribal settlement in Aranthangi.
Under the pretext of buying monitor lizard meat, forest officials approached the settlement. They were shocked to find a large number of reptiles kept confined in a small pit.
A senior forest officer said there were nearly 30 of them and all were young ones. The tribe members sold both live reptiles as well as lizard meat.
In Pudukottai, the meat is sold at Rs. 500 per kg and when transported to other parts of the State, the price goes up to Rs. 2,500 per kg, the officer said.
This is the collection point in the State from where the live animal or its meat is sent to other parts of the State, said WWF-I authorities.
Tribe members from the Aranthangi settlement went to the forest every day to trap monitor lizards, said an official.
New enclosure at zooAt their new home in Vandalur zoo, the reptiles will be released into an enclosure, where water monitor lizards are exhibited. K.S.S.V.P. Reddy, zoo director and additional principal chief conservator of forests, said the rescued lizards were under extreme stress. “We will provide them with enrichment inside the enclosure,” he said.
Mr. Reddy also said, of the rescued reptiles, only 16 monitor lizards would be kept at the zoo. The remaining will be sent to Children’s Park, Guindy.
Once their condition stabilises, they were likely to be released into the Guindy National Park, a natural habitat for monitor lizards, he said.
Mr. Reddy said, at present, the reptiles were fed with bits of chicken and beef.
