DogExpress
Acting on specific complaints, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) has asked the ministry of electronics & IT to stop e-commerce portals from trading in live animals without being registered under existing rules for pet shops.
Flagging violation of animal protection laws, the AWBI noted that various e-commerce companies are indulged in trading of pets without being registered as “pet shops” with state animal welfare boards under Pet Shop Rules, 2018, and Dog Breeding and Marketing Rules, 2017.
In his letter to the ministry, the AWBI secretary, S K Dutta, also noted that unregistered dog breeders and pet shops continue to carry out illegal trade despite the Board had issued an advisory on May 1 asking states and Union Territories (UTs) not to allow unregistered establishments to reopen after the Covid-linked lockdown.
Dutta’s note to the ministry has also been marked to e-commerce portals such as OLX and Quikr as the Board had received complaints against them from the animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India.
PETA India had complained to the AWBI that unregistered pet shops and dog breeders can easily circumvent animal protection regulations by trading animals online.
In a separate development relating to the safety of animals in circuses, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the AWBI to carry out a nationwide survey to find out whether the circuses, which are unable to perform during the lockdown, would be in a position to keep the animals safe during the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The HC direction has come on a petition filed by the animal protection group, Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO), on formulating an appropriate scheme to rehabilitate and relocate the animals if the circuses cannot sustain them.
Source: The Times Of India
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in Chandigarh, India. 
