Long-dead animals to come alive, courtesy government

The state government has decided to set up a museum where all animals will be exhibited after taxidermy.

More than a hundred animal deaths due to various reasons — diseases, injuries, etc — are reported in a year in different part of the state and as per the state forest policy, their bodies have to be burned by the government. They cannot keep or sell them.

State forest minister Bhaskar Jadhav said that they are actively considering the demand of setting up the museum to preserve the dead animals, most of which are rare species. “We will have meeting in this regard where all details will be discussed,” he said.

Moreover, Nationalist Congress Party MLA Jitendra Awhad blamed the state’s wrong policy (of burning the bodies of animals) for the rapid rate at which several rare species are vanishing. He said, “We need to preserve them by correcting several decade-old policies.”

“Rather than burning these animals in forests, the state should indulge in taxidermy and preserve and display them in a museum,” Awhad said, adding that children will enjoy looking at such lifelike animals instead of looking at just their pictures in textbooks.

Recently, India’s last Siberian tiger came alive at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Borivli after he died of old age. A life-size model of this tiger can now be kept on display in the national park for the next 70-80 years.

“Along the same lines, we will have a variety of animals at one place,” Awhad said. “Also, we should appeal to people to inform the state helpline if they come across such animals. I hope the state government acts promptly by correcting its policy and setting up the museum that will benefit the entire society.”

@ss_suryawanshi