Wild animal meat at Sangai Fest foodstall !
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, November 25 2012:
At a time when forest authorities and animal lovers have intensified their campaign to protect and preserve wild life, a food outlet opened in the ongoing Manipur Sangai festival here has allegedly put up an array of dishes of wild animals like wild boar and porcupine on their menu.
Members of People for Animals (PFA) Thoubal, who carried out a brief survey at the festival venue on Saturday, found the stall runners selling porcupine and wild boar meat openly drawing in the crowd.
The food stall runners are selling the rare animals' meat at Rs 100 per plate containing five to six pieces.
"This is the most ugly and shameful part of the festival.
We really don't know how the festival organizers, who are responsible officers of the State Government, granted the permission to sell these items," said Lourembem Bishwajit, managing trustee of PFA Thoubal.
"We have procured the meat claimed by the stall runners as that of porcupine and wild boar for documentary evidences.
If the matter turns serious we will send them to experts for confirmation after consulting forest authorities," he said.
Besides fixing menu of the rare animals' meat on the stall banner and putting the species' names on the thermo flasks, the runners also serve them to the people, he said.
"The festival being named after the rare and endangered Sangai has no meaning when other endangered animals' dishes are sold in the open.
This shows that the outlet runners and the festival organisers have no sense to protect and conserve wild animals.
The foreigners who are currently joining the festival will have a bad impression of Manipuri people," he lamented.
Wild boar and Porcupine are listed in Schedule III and IV of the endangered animals of the country under the under the Protection of Wildlife Act, 1972, he said, while appealing to the Forest Department to take immediate action against the outlet runners and the festival organizers.
Efforts to contact Manipur forest officials on the matter drew a blank for the day.
PFA Thoubal is currently on its 'Greet our Guests' campaign to protect the migratory birds which have landed in different wetlands of the State to take temporary shelter during the cold season.