Kolkata: Nearly 95% of pet traders did not turn up at Galiff Street on Sunday, following a Calcutta High Court order. The order directed authorities to crack down on unlicensed and unauthorised animal, bird, fish, and wildlife trade, leading to increased police and customs monitoring and strict enforcement of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) trade licence requirements. But there is widespread confusion over what licences the traders must have to conduct business.“Only pigeons and ornamental fish were traded on Sunday. Traders selling exotic and Indian birds, dogs, cats and other species were conspicuous by their absence,” said Radhika Bose, managing trustee of animal rights organisation CAPE Foundation.“Behind the sale of puppies lies the grim reality of puppy mills, indiscriminate breeding, animal cruelty, and the abandonment of animals that remain unsold or are no longer profitable. These markets also serve as a guise for illegal wildlife trade, inflicting immense suffering on wild animals and birds and threatening their survival. We hope this marks a decisive step towards ending these cruel practices and ensuring strict enforcement of animal protection and wildlife laws,” she said.Opinions on the Galiff Street pet market among pet lovers are mixed. Some emphasise that proper trade licences and animal welfare laws must be enforced. Others argue that obtaining licences is difficult and threatens the livelihoods of traditional, long-time vendors. But everyone agrees that animals need to be treated properly and not bought and sold like vegetables.“There is no history of where the animals are coming from, no detail of where they are bred. There is a lot of cruelty that happens during the transportation and the manner in which they are kept stuffed in cages,” said Bose.While the overarching law is the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, there are Petshop Rules, Breeding & Marketing Rules and Aquarium Rules that need to be followed. Bose said all the rules are flouted and that the traders do not have valid KMC trade licences.
