MoEF sounded on Amur falcon massacre in Nagaland

The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and an NGO named Conservation India has sought environment and forest minister Jayanthi Natarajan’s intervention in the large-scale killing of migratory Amur falcons in Nagaland.

The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and an NGO named Conservation India has sought environment and forest minister Jayanthi Natarajan’s intervention in the large-scale killing of migratory Amur falcons in Nagaland.

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Last month, a small group of environmentalists from Conservation India documented the trapping and slaughtering of Amur falcons everyday during their migration from Siberia to South Africa.

“We estimate that during the peak migration 12,000-14,000 birds are being hunted for consumption and commercial sale every day. We further estimate that a mind-boggling 120,000 to 140,000 birds are being slaughtered in Nagaland every year during their passage through the state,” the NGO’s Shashank Dalvi and Ramki Sreenivasan said in a report.

BNHS Asad Rahmani, in his letter to Natarajan, brought to her notice the avian killings in Nagaland. “We have been campaigning to stop the mass killing of Amur falcons, which is a protected bird under Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and Convention of Migratory Species, of which India is a signatory,” he said.