Q:- Whom should I contact to investigate and take action if I see a case of cruelty?
Ans:- The local humane societies, SPCAs, or animal shelters.
If you cannot locate the proper person, call or visit your local police department to ask for help in enforcing the law. Once you have located the proper law enforcement officer, provide him/her with a concise, written, factual statement of what you have observed, giving dates and appropriate times. If you can, photograph the situation and date your photographs. It would be very useful "Always keep a record of whom you contact, the dates of the contacts, and photocopies of everything you turn over to officials. Make it crystal clear that you wish to pursue the case and are willing to lend your assistance as required.
If the officers do not cooperate present your documents/ case to their supervisors, and if necessary, to your local government officials, such as the local MLA and ask them to act. If YOU have witnessed the act yourself you can go to your local police officer and ask him to get a warrant issued by the magistrate to summon the accused person to court. Sometimes expert witnesses may be necessary to the case." A veterinarian for example can sign a statement that it is his/her U expert opinion" that the animal in question has been victimised by anact of cruelty. Expert opinions often make or break a case so if you know a sympathetic vet, you may wish to seek his/her assistance and tell the officers you have expert support.
the SPCA in your town is working, then a written complaint addressed to the SPCA may be lodged. You can go with the inspectors to the site of the complaint.
Q.:- Do the police have the power to enter the home where they suspect that the animal crime has been committed?
Ans: - The offence is to be proved in a Court of law, as there is a presumption that a person is innocent till he is proved guilty. The guilt of such a person can be proved only by evidence. Evidence can be oral, documentary or in the shape of articles.
It is for the collection and preservation of documentary evidence or articles, that the law confers the power on the enforcing authority to conduct the search and seize incriminating evidence. The power of search and seizure is the very foundation ill any given investigation.
Section 33 of the PCA authorises a police officer not below the rank of a subinspector to enter any place if there is reason to believe that an offence has been committed in that place under the PCA, provided search warrants are issued by any one of the authorities mentioned in section 33 of PCA.
Q. If a policeman refuses to take cognizance of my complaint what can I do about it ?
Ans: - If a policeman refuses to take cognizance of your complaint, you have two options. First, if the offender has committed in your presence a cognizable offence, arrest him (Look at Q. No 12 for" citizen's arrest") and hand him over to the nearest police station. Or, file a complaint against such offender before the concerned magistrate. And request the magistrate to initiate proceedings against the offender.
Q . I filed a report about animal cruelty in the neighbourhood to the local police station. They have still taken 110 action against the perpetrators. What can I do next?
Ans:- If the police officer does not take any action approach a senior police officer or lodge a formal complaint with the concerned magistrate. The idea is to never give up, but to keep up with your effort. Someone within the hierarchy will listen and react. People who devote their lives to healing the environment are, for the most part, "ordinary" people who have a keenly developed sense of right and wrong and the courage to stand by their convictions. They are not people who usually go looking for a fight, but they stand up to injustice when they are confronted by it.
Q. What kind of birds is it legal to keep?
Ans: - "Keeping" of a bird, if it entails a cage, is the worst form of cruelty which a man can inflict, depriving the bird of not only its natural habitat but also its right to fly.
All birds other than the 122 protected species of the birds under WPA can be legally kept. Further the keeping of a permissible bird must be in conformity with the provision of section 11 of the prevention of cruelty of animal act, which stipulates that any person who keeps and confines any animal in any cage whicn does not measure sufficiently to permit the bird a reasonable opportunity of movement or does not provide the bird with sufficient food and shelter Shall be guilty of treating that bird cruelly. The failure to Comply with these provisions of Section 11 of PCA is a cogniZable offence and the person would be liable to be arrested and punished. Hence the safe and sane course of action is to let the birds be free.
Q. A tree that had several nests in India was cut by our neighbour. Is this an offence against wildlife ?
Ans: - Your neighbour, by cutting the tree which has several nests in it, has committed an offence, if the nest had eggs of a bird which is listed as a protected bird under the WPA. The definition of "animal" under the WPA includes "in the cases of birds and reptiles, their eggs". Section 11 of the WP A prohibits hunting of listed protected animals. Thus, your neighbour has committed an offence of "hunting" by destroying the eggs of a protected bird.
Q. Aren't hens and chickens also birds? Is there no law to protect them ?
Ans: - Unfortunately, only wildbirds are protected under the WPA. Poultry are regarded as domestic birds grown for consumption. The laws that protect them de not protect them against being killed. However, there are stringent laws on the way to transport them and the place in which they can be slaughtered.
