The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Painted storks facing serious threat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 29, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Painted storks facing serious threat

D. Chandra Bhaskar Rao

Summer has taken its toll, while poachers are doing greater harm to the birds

Stark reality: Painted storks fetch a handsome price with people in towns relishing the meat.

CHINTAPALLI (Khammam dt): The winged visitors are in peril. A large group of painted storks that had a long affinity with Chintapalli, a village on the banks of Akeru stream, are facing a serious threat. While summer has taken its toll, the poachers are doing greater harm to the birds. They fetch a handsome price with people in towns relishing the meat.

Poaching has become so rampant that at least two to three birds are falling prey to the greed of man every day. Every time they go out in search of food, a few of them are caught in the traps laid in the nearby ponds and tanks. A good number of them were killed reportedly in the vicinity of Palair lake, a balancing reservoir on the Nagarjunasagar left canal system.

Easy prey

As the bigger ones are dying at the hands of poachers, the chicks are left to starve. They flutter in frustration and the thirsty ones land on the streets for worms and frogs to feed on. They are not able to return to the nests built over many months by the breeding group of storks and end up being hunted by hungry dogs.

The village mourns the death of every bird. People are so much in love with the visitors that they entrust their children for their protection. “Their death pains us a lot as our bond with the birds is two generations old. I have been watching them from my childhood,” said 70-year-old Ponnam Krishnaiah. They come before Sankranti and go back after the breeding season.

“We feel sorry for them as their habitat is shrinking. The tamarind trees, on which they build nests, are being felled. The birds are straying onto the roof tops and open fields after failing to find a footing on the trees.” Former Mandal Parishad president Pagilla Veerabhadram insists on creating a water source with greenery around giving a natural habitat for the birds.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh