As many as seventeen monitor lizards were born in a controlled environment in a plastic container in the care of the forest department in Mumbai, an official said on Sunday, reported the PTI.

According to the PTI, the monitor lizards hatched on Saturday from a clutch of 44 eggs laid by a monitor lizard, which the Mumbai range of the forest department rescued in October last year, the official said.

The department has handed over the reptile and the eggs to RAWW (Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare) for care and rehabilitation, he said.

The reptile was a little weak after laying eggs and was under observation for a week before being released into the wild in coordination with the forest department, said Pawan Sharma, founder and president of RAWW and the honorary wildlife warden with the forest department, as per the PTI.

The clutch of 44 eggs was kept in a controlled environment in a plastic container for incubation, said Chinmay Joshi, zoologist and secretary of RAWW.

Some eggs got damaged due to the heat, and some were infertile, he said.

After 217 days, 17 young ones successfully hatched on Saturday. They will be examined and released into their natural habitat, Joshi said.

DRI seizes 781 organs of Bengal monitor lizards, soft coral in Nashik; one held

Meanwhile, last month, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had last month said that it seized as many as 781 organs of Bengal monitor lizards and soft corals. One person has been arrested in the matter in Nashik district in Maharashtra.

According to the DRI, the officials had received specific intelligence that a gang of wildlife traffickers was seeking prospective buyers for Hatha Jodis (Bengal Monitor Lizard Hemipenes) and soft corals. While acting upon the information, a team of officers of DRI Mumbai laid a trap for the traffickers. The extremely cautious trafficker initially called the buyers, who were closely monitored by the DRI team, to Nandagaon railway station (Nashik district) but kept on changing locations for nearly 3 hours, finally deciding to exchange at a tribal hamlet with an extremely harsh terrain consisting of thorny scrubland with no scope for movement of four-wheelers. 

The DRI said that as the trafficker brought the contraband for exchange, the  team tried to rush in, but were stopped by a patrol group on a bike. Further, the trafficker was alerted and, in no time, the team was surrounded by 30-odd tribals who started pelting stones at the officers. Using this opportunity, the trafficker and his associates tried to run away with the contraband. However, the officers chased them for over half a kilometre on foot in the rough terrain, managing to apprehend the trafficker and also recovered 781 Hatha Jodis and 19.6 kg of soft corals which are listed under Schedule–I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act,1972.

“The seized wildlife articles along with the detained person were handed over to the Maharashtra State Forest Officials for further action under Wildlife Protection Act,” the DRI had last month said.

(with PTI inputs)

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