Four geckos were found missing from an enclosure of the Alipore Zoological Garden here on Thursday.
The enclosure where the reptiles were kept was broken. Acid was poured on the lock of the enclosure, K.L. Ghosh, director of the Alipore Zoological Gardens told The Hindu .
On searching the enclosure and the surroundings, seven geckos were recovered during the day, but four remained missing.
State’s Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim visited the zoo and said that there has been an attempt to forcibly break the enclosure and take away the reptiles.
The scientific name of the lizard is Gekko gecko. It is commonly known as Tokay Gecko, and is protected under Schedule IV of the Wildlife Protection Act.
The incident appears to be a rerun of the theft of eight marmosets or Brazilian monkeys from the zoo in April 2009, for which the zoo authorities had to take the help of the Central investigating agencies.
A complaint about the missing geckos has been registered at the local Wattgunge police station.
“We got these geckos from the State’s Forest department. They were handed to the Forest department by the Customs or Border Security Force (BSF) when they were being smuggled outside the country,” Mr Ghosh said.
According to the zoo authorities, the reptiles were brought to the zoo by November 2012 and after keeping them in isolation for a while they were kept in an enclosure in the reptile section for public viewing.
