Around 2,100 budgerigars, cockatiels, and finches were transported for over 32 hours from Howrah to CSMT
It has urged railway police to trace around 1,763 birds that remain unaccounted for. In a September 18 letter to senior railway police officials, PETA said the birds were being treated as case property in the FIR and sought their recovery. The police complaint states that the birds were carried in seven cages attached to parcel consignment No 12860. PETA said 12 of the 337 recovered birds subsequently died. It said around 1,763 birds remained untraced and urged police to identify the recipients, recover the birds and establish where they were taken.
The shop owners told police that the remaining birds had already been sold, according to PETA. The organisation, whose complaint led to an FIR at CSMT Railway Police Station, alleged that the birds were transported without adequate space, ventilation, food or water. It further claimed that although the violations were brought to the attention of a police officer, the birds were not seized and were allowed to be taken away by the consignees.
The organisation said the claim that the birds had been sold should not end the investigation.