YouTuber Booked by Assam Forest Department for Capturing and Selling Parakeets, Two Rescued Following PETA India Complaint
Acting on a complaint by PETA India, the Kokrajhar police and Kachugaon forest division apprehended YouTuber Jahid Lifestyle for capturing parakeets from the wild and offering them for sale on his YouTube channel. They also recovered and seized two parakeets in his possession.
The special operation was carried out in the Gossaigaon area by Kokrajhar police. PETA India had made a formal complaint to the principal chief conservator of forests, Assam, and divisional forest officer, Kachugaon. A preliminary offence report has been registered by the Kachugaon forest division under sections 9, 39, and 51 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act (WPA), 1972, against the accused for poaching, capturing, and selling wild parakeets against the provisions of the act. Parakeets are protected under Schedule IV of the WPA, 1972, and capturing, keeping, or selling them is a punishable offence.
In the videos, the YouTuber and his accomplices are seen entering forested areas, climbing trees to reach the nests of the parakeets, and capturing them. On the pretext of creating “educational” content on how to raise and feed parakeets, the YouTuber can be seen on video feeding a mixture of processed sugary biscuits and water to the baby parakeets, which is contrary to their natural diet and highly detrimental to their health.
In the illegal bird trade, countless birds are torn away from their families and denied everything that is natural and important to them so that they can be sold as “pets” or used as bogus “fortune-tellers”. Fledglings are often snatched from their nests, while other birds panic as they’re caught in traps or nets that can seriously injure or kill them as they struggle to break free. Captured birds are packed into small boxes, and an estimated 60% of them die in transit from broken wings and legs, thirst, or sheer panic. Those who survive face a bleak, lonely life in captivity, suffering from malnutrition, loneliness, depression, and stress.
Birds belong in the sky, never in cages.
