50 emus die of suffocation in trucks in Tonk, Driver arrested

The police on Monday arrested two truck drivers for negligently carrying 84 emus, the flightless birds of Australia, leading to the death of 50 of them in Tonk’s Niwai area. It is suspected that the emus died of suffocation as they had been stuffed into the truck along with vegetables despite lack of space.

In a statement to the police, the duo has said that they were given Rs 22,000 by a man owning an emu farm to dump these birds somewhere as he had suffered huge loses in the business and could no longer afford to keep them. However, the police are verifying the statement.

Circle officer, Niwai, Jeevan Ram said that the police arrested two men – Pappu and Chauthmal–under various sections of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. “The duo was produced in a court that sent them to police custody on Tuesday,” said the officer.

He added the both the accused are truck drivers. “They told the police that they were returning to Jaipur from Delhi carrying vegetables when they were intercepted by a car near Manesar in Haryana on Sunday night. The car owner, whose name they don’t recall, took them to an emu farm,” said the officer.

The man told the duo that he was involved in emu farming and had suffered huge loses. “He reportedly told them that providing food to emus was proving very costly to them. He gave Rs 11,000 to each of the truck drivers and asked them to dump the emus somewhere in Rajasthan as the duo belonged to the state,” said the officer.

However, due to lack of space, 50 emus died of suffocation, while 22 others were spotted running around in a village. The villagers were quite surprised to see the large birds and informed the forest officials and the police.

“Later, some residents spotted the truck. On the basis of their description, we arrested the two truck drivers. We have recorded their statement. It was quite cruel on their part to carry the birds negligently. We would rush a team to the reported farm from where these emus were brought to Niwai,” said the officer.

It was the second incident of emus being recovered in Tonk district. On June 5, residents of Baroni village in the district were in for a surprise when a group of emus was spotted on the Tonk highway.

The officer said that “the recovery of emus on Monday and on June 5 were two separate incidents with no apparent links. However, the investigation is on,” said the officer.

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