-------------------------------------------------------- Do GOACAN a favour, circulate this email to your family members, relatives, neighbours and friends. Help others be BETTER INFORMED ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- GOACAN holds awareness action on Save the Frogs Day.
-------------------------------------------------------------- On the occasion of Save the Frogs Day, 28th April Consumer Forum volunteers under the banner of GOACAN held an Awareness Action in Margao to highlight the urgent need to stop the indiscriminate killing of Frogs and to appeal to consumers to stop eating Frog meat. The Forum volunteers carrying colourful flags and placards, distributed information handouts to consumers informing them that during the monsoon which is the mating season for many species of frogs and these frogs get hunted for the purpose of commercial sale to restaurants and for home consumption. The consumers were further informed that frogs feed on mosquitos and other insects which are responsible for the spread of malaria and other vector borne diseases therefore the frogs have to be protected. Similarly, the increasing incidence of snakes encroaching on human habitation and settlement areas is also attributed to the dwindling population of frogs in Goa. Many consumers were surprised to know that Bull frogs are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 whereby catching, selling, killing frogs or serving and eating frog meat contravenes the provision of the Act and attracts stringent punishment of imprisonment for a period of three years and a fine of Rs 25,000. Forum volunteers explained to consumers that killing of frogs is also an ecological crime against the food chain and therefore it is important that consumers should become environmentally conscious and say NO to frog meat. Meanwhile GOACAN has decided to encourage consumers to discuss the issue of the dwindling frog population and the spread of malaria in the forthcoming Gram Sabhas in their respective villages. GOACAN will also write to the officials of the Forest Department and the Police Department to intensify its vigilance to curb the hunting of frogs and to take appropriate steps to book the persons apprehended with the relevant sections of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. GOACAN will also be approaching the Tourism Department and the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) to caution all hotels and restaurants as well as domestic and foreign tourists that eating of frog meat is banned by the Govt. of India. ------------------------------------------------------------ GOA CIVIC AND CONSUMER ACTION NETWORK ----------------------------------------------------------- promoting civic and consumer rights in Goa ----------------------------------------------------------- GOACAN Post Box 187 Margao, Goa 403 601 GOACAN Post Box 78 Mapusa, Goa 403 507 mailto: goa...@bsnl.in ----------------------------------------------------------