In January 2010 when Md Ikram Selim was shifting from his Eskaton house to Baridhara, he gave his male blue-gold-macaw to Abdul Wadud, a private mini zoo owner, so that Wadud could take care of it in the meantime. Two years later when Selim wanted the bird back, Wadud refused to return it. He argued that Selim could not make proper breeding arrangements for the male bird and its female partner, which Wadud brought from Brazil.
Selim and Wadud met through a friend.
Yesterday, Wadud arranged a press conference at his mini zoo on Bir Uttar CR Dutta Road to clarify his stand in this regard.
He said Selim brought the exotic bird from Singapore in 1997 when it was three months old and kept it in his Eskaton Garden house on around a bigha of land. “As his Baridhara house doesn’t have enough space to rear a macaw, he gave it to me in January 2010 to take care of it,” Wadud said.
He said, “I have brought a female partner from Brazil for breeding, and for the first time the macaws have bred in captivity in Bangladesh. I cannot let them be separated, separation can cause their death.”
Selim told journalists that as Wadud refused to return his bird, he was compelled to go for legal action against him.
In the latest development, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court (CMM) has asked both of them to appear before it today to end their ownership row.
Wadud told The Daily Star yesterday that he would file a case with the High Court, if necessary. But if Selim can make proper breeding arrangements for the pair, he will not continue the legal battle. He said he would also give him the female one to only let the birds live together.
The blue-and-gold macaw, also known as blue-and-yellow macaw, is one of the largest and grandest of all parrots, measuring about 35 inches in length from head to tail and having an average lifespan of 50 years.
-With The Daily Star input
