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Eight
rare simians stolen from a Kolkata zoo Kolkata:
Eight rare simians were stolen from their enclosure from Alipore Zoological Garden
in West Bengal on Saturday. The stolen Brazilian common marmosets (Callithrix
Jacchus) have grey heads and furry white ears and weigh between 500 grams to 700
grams. The stolen marmosets include two males, two females and four adults, which
were donated to the Zoo by the Delhi-based Institute of Immunology in January
2001. The zoo authorities are rather surprised because theft was committed inspite
of security guards. "These miscreants came during the night on 8th August and
actually cut the net by some weapons and taken away the marmosets. Unfortunately
that particular enclosure was entrusted to watch over by a security agency and
two of them were entrusted from 5 pm in 8th August to 6 am till the next day,"
said Subir Kumar Choudhury, Director of Alipore Zoological Garden. "Two of the
personnel were engaged but it was surprising how it got stolen. We have informed
the local police and hey have started investigations. The investigation is under
process," he added. It is the first reported theft of the Zoo, earlier in March,
an attempt was made to steal a marmoset, which the alert guards had got hold of.
There are only two zoos in India, which houses these common marmosets. They are
in Kolkata and Mysore. The Zoo has eight more marmosets in another enclosure just
400 feet away from the cage where the break in occurred. Collectors and illegal
breeding centres prize animals like marmosets. The specie is in high demand for
research in reproductive biology and endocrinology abroad because of their genetic
proximity to human beings. -August
10, 2009 Go
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