On Wings and a prayer

 

 

A cruise over the never-ending stretch of blue waters of Chilika, flanked by green hills, is achieved in the exalted company of the ‘twitterati’ – the twittering glitterati of the skies… herons, flamingoes, kingfishers, kites, pintails, shovellers, coots et al transform the landscape into what might have been a spray painter’s canvas.

Chilika is India’s largest brackish water lagoon and one of the subcontinent’s largest winter-ground for migratory birds. Located just south of Orissa’s capital city Bhubaneswar, the 1100 sq.km lake is bordered on the north by the alluvial plains of Mahanadi Delta and on the east and south by the rocky hills of Eastern Ghats. A natural habitat and breeding ground for both resident and migratory birds – the latter from as far as Caspian Sea, parts of Russia, central and south East Asia, and the Himalayas – Chilika is home to over 150 species of birds that arrive in October and stay until March every year.

The Nalabana, an island in the lagoon is a designated bird sanctuary under the Wildlife Protection Act. 8.928 lakh birds across 168 species were found at Chilika in the 2008 census. The species-wise counts indicate the Gadwall Ducks topped the numbers at over 1.69 lakhs. The populations of the northern pintails and northern shovellers too exceeded a lakh while the birds exceeding 50,000 were Eurasian wigeon, common pochard and common coot. Rare birds such as pallas’s fish eagle, pintail snipe, brahmin duck, bar-headed goose, oriental white ibis, Eurasian spoonbill and even the spot-billed pelican of the ‘Near Threatened’ IUCN category were observed. However, this bird-watcher’s paradise is fast turning into a poacher’s paradise, what with indiscriminate habitat destruction, use of pesticides and climate change.

The IUCN press release, earlier this year, had pointed out that about one in eight birds are threatened with extinction. And in the IUCN Red List for 2008 for birds, India has the largest number of vulnerable species. All warnings and pleas of conservationists have gone unheeded, as increasing number of our winged guests fall prey to merciless poachers. “Birds are no more safe in Chilika. Local poachers are killing countless birds everyday. With birds selling at Rs 100-400 in the local market, poaching has now become a lucrative business to make money. Efforts of the forest and wildlife authorities seem trifling. While non-governmental sources quote the number of killed birds at thousands, and the number of active poachers around one hundred plus, authorities have only been able to nab five to ten poachers in the year,” avers Sachidananda Behera of Soran Village. Behera and some other like-minded bird lovers have founded an organisation named ‘Kalijai Pakhi Surakhya Samiti’ to preserve Chilika as a favourite destination for birds, and tourists. The problem of poaching is acute in 43 out of 147 villages bordering Chilika, where poachers come up with newer tricks to escape wildlife vigilance. The latest trend is to make children, between 12 to 15 years of age, smuggle poisoned grains and food balls to the required sites to avoid police detection. Like professional poachers, the children are trained to catch the birds by laying out nets and spreading poisoned baits. “It is really unfortunate that poachers are involving children in this illegal practice. They think we will not suspect children. But special arrangements have been made this time to check poaching. Eighteen anti-poaching squads including two mobile units have been formed to keep vigil over the lake. Fifteen habitual offenders have been identified and are being kept under special surveillance,” clarified Bijay Mohapatra, assistant chief conservator of forests (ACCF).

“The unholy alliance between poachers, wildlife officials and meat smugglers has created a death trap for the innocent birds. Officials are regularly bribed to turn a blind eye to the rampant poaching,” Pabitra Pradhan of Ratanpur alleged. ACCF disagrees. Retorts Mohapatra, “These are baseless accusations. The fact is that the budget allocation for the surveillance is not sufficient, therefore sometimes it is difficult for us to survey every nook and corner of Chilika. However, we are trying our best to stop poaching by creating awareness among local people.”

Sehadev Das, president of Chilika Anchalik Parishad proposes a practical alternative, “The government spends lakhs of rupees every year but poaching continues. It is mostly the poor fishermen who take to poaching birds! I think a better way to check poaching would be to promote tourism. If poachers are employed as guides who take tourists around the place, they can earn their livelihood in a less murderous way.”

Environment activists and village elders have in fact even motivated some poachers to take an oath to protect the birds. This novel approach paid off and many poachers are now vigilant members of the Bird Watch committees. In return, the local administration made available soft loans on low interest and persuaded them to take up other livelihood initiatives instead of poaching. Sorana village in Khurdha district, which was once infamous for poaching, had taken a lead role in protecting the birds. Unfortunately, more initiatives are needed to preserve one of our last few natural havens, for after all, one swallow does not make a summer… or a winter.