Journalism of Courage
People for Animals (PFA) has recently rescued over 200 starved emus,who were pecking each other to death,from different districts of the state. The NGO had been approached by the farmers who had been tricked into buying these birds under a Ponzi scheme.
The companies that were run from the funds generated by this Ponzi scheme had told the farmers that emu farming was a great business opportunity. The farmers were promised that the companies would buy the birds back once they were full grown. The companies tried to sell emu meat and eggs to restaurants but because of their poor market research they overlooked the fact that emu eggs do not hatch in Indian hatcheries. They also did not consider that emu meat has a rubbery texture and will be purchased only by those who have an acquired taste for it.
Since the farmers could not afford to feed the birds,they contacted PFA. The NGO initially rescued 20 emus from the Satara district. They received similar distress calls from Ratnagiri,Saswad,Belgaum and Kolhapur districts too and rescued 200 more emus.
The NGO is presently looking for homes for the rescued birds,preferably people who own farmhouses or ashrams with large space. The NGO claims that emus make excellent pets,they follow owners,play with balls and like to play games. The birds are extremely cheap to maintain and need food worth Rs 600 per month.
The Ponzi schemes have turned out to be an investment fraud after 15 years of running and causing a number of bankruptcies. The scheme involved a payment of returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors. The organisers of the scheme kept the ball rolling by soliciting new investors with promises of generating high returns with little or no risk. The funds procured from the new investors were then paid to older investors to reinstate their faith in the fraudulent scheme. The same pattern of fund generation continued till the promoter called quits and ran away with the investors money.
