AHMEDABAD: As many as 23 flamingos have been electrocuted to death in the past two days after they came in contact with the high voltage electric power transmission line in Kumbarwada in Bhavnagar district. On Saturday, five flamingos were electrocuted, while on Sunday there were reports of 18 flamingos being electrocuted.
The Sunday incident was the third one since December in Kumbarwada area alone where the birds came in contact with a high-tension power line of a factory in the vicinity. Sources in the forest department said that the area, which has a colony of birds, especially flamingos, is an experimental salt farm which belongs to the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute.
Earlier on December 10 last year, some 20 birds had been electrocuted. The foresters said that on Saturday night a flock of five flamingos had come in contact with the high-tension lines and on Sunday 18 birds had been electrocuted in the same area.
With the reoccurrence of such incidents, Kumbarwada has become infamous as a grave yard for flamingos. Apart from Kumbarwada, Khadir has the credit of recording the most horrifying electrocution where 400 birds had been charred after coming into contact with live wires in 2010.
A study 'Flamingo mortality due to collision with high tension electric wires in Gujarat, India' conducted by Anika Tere and B M Parasharya says: "The collision of flamingos with electric lines was noticed repeatedly at Nirma salt pans and Kumbharwada sewage pond in Bhavnagar district. The collisions at these sites are so frequent, that the local fishermen have learned to scan areas with overhead wires and collect the birds for consumption." The study has mapped seven sites in Kutch, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar where high tension cables run close to flamingo sites.
Brijesh Shah of Animal Helpline Bhavnagar says: "We rushed to the site on Saturday and found five birds dead, and on Sunday, we sent our teams to Kumbarwada as there was a report of 18 dead birds." He cited the birds being wet while coming into contact with the wire as the reason for the calamity. "We've made several representations before the authorities requesting them to shift the wires, but to no avail," he laments.
Experts pointed out that instead of shifting the lines or working out a solution, the authorities are draining out the water near the high tension lines, so that the birds stop frequenting the area. "Instead of putting reflectors or employing other methods, the forest department is destroying a major birds' colony by draining out water from it," says a environmentalist.
