DFOs asked to take steps for preventing animals’ display in plays

Berhampur: The regional chief conservator of forests (RCCF), Berhampur circle has alerted the circle's divisional forest officers (DFOs) to take steps to curb the transfer of animals and displaying of wildlife in the plays staged during the Danda Yatra, a seasonal folk festival in Ganjam and its neighbouring districts. The yatra is scheduled to start from the third week of March and will end on April 14.Besides plays by Danduas as per tradition, the yatra committees arrange for plays at night for entertainment. To attract the audience, the actors display snakes and other wild animals during the play, which is a violation of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.Berhampur forest division had registered a case for displaying a venomous snake in a play held at Ralaba in Nov last year and arrested three persons — the two actors and one of the organisers. "It was just one of the reported cases and there might be several such cases which have not been reported," RCCF (Berhampur), Vishwanath Neelannavar said on Friday.Neelannavar asked the DFOs of Berhampur forest circle, comprising Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal and Boudh districts, to take legal action against the violators. He also urged them to arrange awareness programmes among the committees and villages to stop the practice and also suggested attending the meeting along with the respective district collectors and SPs in order to educate the organizers and different related committees in this regard.