With water decreasing in the Padma River, poachers are hunting migratory birds with ‘poison baits’ in char land of the river in Rajshahi and selling those in the city.
On Thursday, wildlife management and nature conservation division officers recovered the bodies of 29 guest birds from a char land, adjacent to Rajshahi city, under the Paba upazila in the district.
Md Sarowar Hossain Khan, wildlife supervisor at Rajshahi divisional wildlife management and nature conservation circle, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that they recovered bodies of one ruddy duck, one white cockatiel, two little ringed plovers, two Small Pratincoles, fifteen Caspian plovers, and eight gray plovers from the newly emerged char land on Thursday afternoon.
‘The symptoms of the recovered carcasses suggest that they died after eating food grains mixed with poison,’ he said, adding that earlier the body of a guest bird was sent to a laboratory and it was found that it died of food poison.
Jahangir Kabir, wildlife inspector at the office, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that on information, they also recovered bodies of nine ruddy ducks near a house in the Srirampur area in Rajshahi city on Wednesday.
‘As per the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act 2012, a mobile court led by a district magistrate can only impose a fine if anyone is caught red-handed while hunting or killing wild birds,’ he added.
Nazmul Kamal Rony, a wildlife activist, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that poachers left food grains mixed with poison in chars in the dark of night.
‘When the birds eat the poison-mixed feeds in the morning, they become sick, and most of the time they die. Then, poachers collect and sell those secretly in the city or elsewhere as slaughtered birds,’ he added.
He said that he had recently found about one hundred carcasses in char land under Paba upazila.
Rony said, ‘Since 2010, the number of birds has dropped to less than one-tenth of what it was. Earlier, from November to March, the Padma River area would see a significant presence of migratory birds. But now, even in December and January, bird sightings are rare,’ he added.
Niamat Ali, a resident of T-Dam (badh) area, said that local people found bodies of 10 ruddy ducks in char land adjacent to the dam on Thursday morning.
He said that at least 50 to 60 guest birds were killed by poachers secretly every day in the char land.
