Three Captive Parakeets Used by Fortune Tellers Rescued by Tirupati Forest Division After PETA India Complaint, Perpetrators Fined
For Immediate Release:
27 August 2026
Contact:
Shruti Shah; [email protected]
Meet Ashar; [email protected]
Tirupati–Three captive rose-ringed parakeets, who were being unlawfully used by fortune tellers near Appalayagunta Temple in Tirupati, were rescued by the Tirupati Forest Division following a complaint from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India). Forest officials also took action against the perpetrators, imposing penalties under the Wild Life (Protection) Act (WPA), 1972.
The illegal activity came to light on 22 August when a PETA India staff member spotted three fortune tellers operating along the road leading to the temple. Two were seated together, and a third was a short distance away, each keeping a parakeet confined to a small cage for use in fortune-telling. After receiving PETA India’s complaint, forest officials swiftly reached the location, apprehended the individuals, rescued the birds, and warned the offenders of the legal consequences of capturing and confining protected wildlife.
The offenders were fined Rs 4,500 under Section 54 of the WPA, 1972. The rescued parakeets are currently under the care of the Tirupati Forest Division, where they are being observed and examined before being considered for release.
Rose-ringed Parakeets are protected under Schedule II of the WPA, 1972. Capturing, possessing, buying, or selling these birds is an offence punishable by a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh or a jail term of up to three years or both.
“PETA India is grateful to the Tirupati Forest Division of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department, particularly the Divisional Forest Officer, Tirupati, Shri V. Saibaba, IFS, and Forest Section Officer, Shri Sankarappa, for promptly rescuing the parakeets,” says PETA India’s Cruelty Response Assistant Vamsi Krishna. “Caged birds have nothing to sing about. Birds belong in the sky, never in cages, and we urge anyone who is keeping a bird in this way to turn them in to a local forest department or an animal protection group for rehabilitation and to be reunited with a flock.”
In the illegal bird trade, countless birds are taken from their families and denied everything natural and important to them so that they can be sold as pets or used as bogus fortune-tellers and kept caged. Fledglings are often snatched from their nests, and others panic as they’re caught in traps or nets that can seriously injure or kill them as they struggle to break free. Captured birds are packed into small boxes, and an estimated 60% of them die in transit from broken wings and legs, thirst, or sheer panic. Those who survive face a bleak life in captivity, suffering from malnutrition, loneliness, depression, and stress and abuse. Birds kept in people’s homes and by fortune-tellers are often improperly fed and malnourished.
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow on Facebook, Instagram, or X.
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