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Winter guests who feel insecure due to active presences of clandestine hunters, however get relief to some extant this time. And it is for the first time history in Bihar that forest department has put crusade against the poachers at Bhagalpur’s water lands where the migratory birds have started arriving in flocks onset of winter.

Migratory birds at diara land at Bhagalpur.

Northern parts of Bhagalpur ie, the diara lands (islands) of both Ganga and Kosi rivers are considered as the hot spot of many migratory birds as availability of  sufficient foods and favorable atmosphere for the flora and fauna. The enrich bio-diversity of the entire rivers’ belts since long considered as the best host of the foreign guests. But due to massive poaching activities, the area also earned notoriety among the birds lover.

“We were shocked to witness the sale of rare migratory birds on NH-31 side openly, the poachers in exchange of hardly few amounts, could provide you any species of birds,” said Pradeep Kumar. Kumar who recently travelled to Patna from Katihar, narrated his experience of how he witness sale of migratory birds on the side of  NH-31 at Narayanpur areas and other places under Naugachia police district’s jurisdiction.

Sales of migratory birds on NH-31 side.

“We have been fighting against poaching of migratory birds in the areas for the last two decades. We even managed to switch over the profession of many in some villages who traditionally performing trapping or killing migratory birds from generation to generation,” said Arvind Mishra, founder of Bhagalpur based Mandar Nature Club (MNC). Mishra who is also a noted

Teen-aged poachers with migratory birds on NH-31.

bird expert in Bihar however said for the first time his team members managed to coordinate forest department and local police to counter the attempts of bird poaching in the areas, especially in diara lands.

A senior cop at Naugachia said that police has assured full support to the forest department against the illegal poaching of migratory birds. “All the concerned police stations have been asked to keep strict vigil on such illegal activists and extend all possible helps to the forest department in this regard,” the officer said.

Migratory birds released from the hands of poachers .

“Approaching the decision makers on various levels for many days against fast spreading hunting of birds by poisoning and other methods in the district of Bhagalpur, Bihar has given some relief to the poor migratory birds arrived this winter in the area” Mishra pointed out.

According to him forest department has started gearing up  against the bird poaching and started setting up  anti poaching camps.  “Deputy inspector general of police (DIG), Bhagalpur zone, Vikas Vaibhav and the superintendent of police (SP) Naugachhia, Nidhi Rani  has taken our request seriously and have started cooperating the forest department,” Mishra

Foreign guests at diara lands at Bhagalpur.

pointed out. He said in Jagatpur Jheel, the trappers stopped coming and many people informed that now the bird sellers are not being seen by the side of NH 31 who were used to hang them in their hands and selling to the rascals. “We to some extent managed to counter the rampant poaching activities  by establishing the anti poaching camps in some spots at the diara lands in the  mid channel of river Ganga,” said a forest official here.