Around 50 animals of endangered species were seized from a house at Palpara in Chandernagore in Hooghly district on Tuesday afternoon. The officials of Howrah divisional forest range along with officials of the state wildlife department seized the animals from a house that belonged to one Gautam Seth.

Several animals, which are classified as endangered species under different schedules of the Wildlife Protection Act were also seized during the raid. These included around 10 peacocks, 30 parakeets, 10 turtles and 10 peacock eggs and one giant squirrel.

According to forest officials, Seth is a relative of Harihor Seth who was the first president of the then independent Chandernagore. Belonging to a well-to-do family, Seth (45) has been keeping these animals in his nine bigha garden for several years. Seth runs a nursery and is also a businessman.

Sources claimed that a few years ago, one of Seth’s neighbours, Narayani Seth (72), had complained to the forest department about Gautam illegally running his private zoo. Following this, the officials raided Gautam’s house but did not seize the animals. In 2007, Gautam appealed to the High Court asking for a licence. The case was however dismissed by the High Court a few weeks ago, after which a notice was sent to the divisional forest department about the illegal possession of animals.

“We got a notice from the High Court about the illegal possession of animals. The animals have been brought to the rescue centre in Salt Lake. We would be freeing some of them into the wild and keep some at the Alipore Zoo after a few days,” said P K Dutta, Additional Divisional Forest Officer of Howrah Divisional forest range.

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