Protests mar 'animal exchange' programme in Guwahati

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The protest against the 'exchange of animals' between the State Zoo-cum-Botanical Garden, Guwahati and the Mukesh Ambani Zoo in Gujarat turned violent today, leading to the detention of the protestors.

The Asom Chiriakhana Suraksha Mancha (ACSM) has been protesting the transfer of animals from the state zoo to the Mukesh Ambani Zoo in Gujarat on the pretext of, what they say, an exchange of animals. However, the Mancha smelt a rat that in the name of the 'exchange of animals' between the two zoos, zoo authorities in Guwahati only send animals to the zoo in Gujarat without bringing any animals from Gujarat to Assam.

An insider said that there is a plan to take some animals outside. "We are ignorant of details on this plan. We are low-rung employees," he said.

Some areas of the state zoo are under bamboo barricades now to debar visitors from going there. The barricaded areas are under police vigil, inside sources alleged.

A few protestors alleged that the zoo authorities here are taking animals from the state zoo to Gujarat but never taking any animals to Assam from Gujarat. "We want the government to clear the obscurity that has hazed the entire animal-exchange episode," one of the protestors said.

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