Winged winter visitors fail to duck poachers

The Telegraph , Saturday, November 25, 2006
Correspondent : Our Correspondent
Nov. 24 : They fly thousands of miles to reach their winter home and most make it without a scratch on their delicate feathered bodies. But for the ruddy-shell ducks that flock the banks of the Brahmaputra and wetlands in Dhubri and other Lower Assam districts, surviving their winter sojourn in these parts is a tough proposition.

Targeted for their meat, ruddy-shell ducks have become sitting ducks — literally — for poachers.

According to a survey conducted by Nature Friends, a Gouripur-based NGO, between 200 and 250 ruddy-shell ducks are killed in the Lower Assam districts each year. The slain birds are sold openly in village markets.

“The ruddy-shell duck is in demand for its meat. A large number of this species of duck used to visit the riverbank and the tiny islands on the Brahmaputra, but their population is declining at an alarming rate,” Nature Friends director Kuladhar Das said. Several other migratory and indigenous duck species are under threat from poachers. These include the bar-headed geese, teal, mallard, gadwall, garganey, shoveller and pochard.

Nature Friends has long been demanding that Sareswar Beel in Dhubri, one of the largest wetlands in Asia, be declared a bird sanctuary to ensure that all winged visitors are protected by the law. “Unfortunately, there is a general lack of awareness about the importance of saving these birds,” Das said.

A.S. Laskar, the divisional forest officer of Dhubri, said he was aware of migratory birds being killed and had instructed officials and staff of all forest ranges to launch a crackdown on hunters.

The sheer variety of water birds that come to nest at Sareswar Beel and along the banks of the Brahmaputra at this time of the year is mindboggling. The canopy of feathered beauties includes endangered white and black storks, little cormorants, large cormorants, darters, herons, purple herons, pond herons or paddy birds, off-white cattle egrets, night herons, lesser adjutant storks, ibis, spoonbills and little grebes.

Das said his organisation has organised an anti-poaching campaign on the periphery of Sareswar Beel, focusing on raising awareness about conservation among villagers.

While the news about birds being poached will most certainly dishearten nature lovers, there is something to cheer, too. A Ganges gharial was spotted in the Mora Gadadhar river a few days ago, which conservationists said was the first such sighting in the Brahmaputra or any of its tributaries in the past 30 years.

Thousands of people rushed to Panchpeer Char, near Dhubri town, for a glimpse of the crocodilian species.

Amanullah Sheikh, a resident of Panchpeer Char, said he was walking towards the bank to take a boatride across the river when he spotted the five-feet gharial resting on the edge of a narrow rivulet.

The divisional forest officer said the gharial may have strayed from the Sunderbans.

 
SOURCE : The Telegraph, Saturday, November 25, 2006
 


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