• Rescue two monkeys, three turtles

“I was treating them for injuries and was to release them after recovery,” clarifies the Snake rescuer

Mysore/Mysuru: The Mysuru Police CID Forest Mobile Squad, which raided the house of city’s well-known snake rescuer S. Balasubramanya (Snake Shyam) at Mogarahalli village on KRS Road in Srirangapatna taluk yesterday afternoon, have rescued two Bonnet Monkeys and three Indian Black Turtles from the house which were kept illegally in the house.

The Mysuru Police CID Forest Mobile Squad team, led by Sub-Inspector R. Lakshmi, based on information raided the house of Snake Shyam at about 1.30 pm yesterday and found two Bonnet Monkeys and three Indian Black Turtles confined in separate cages and took them into custody.

When the officials asked Shyam whether he had obtained license to keep the animals, Shyam said that he had not obtained the licence following which the officials told Shyam that it was illegal to keep the animals and took the custody of monkeys and turtles. The Forest Mobile Squad staff, then took Shyam to their Office in city and recorded a voluntary declaration statement from him. A Wildlife Offence Report has been submitted to the SCJ and JMFC (Junior Division) Court in Srirangapatna.

Snake Shyam, speaking to Star of Mysore, said that the monkeys and turtles were found injured and he was treating them to release them into their natural habitat after they recovered completely. He said that one monkey was injured on its head after it had met with an accident with a truck and the other monkey was electrocuted.

“Even the turtles were injured and I was taking care of their injuries. Once they had recovered, I would have released them into their natural habitat. The only mistake I did was I had not informed Forest Dept. about it,” he added.