The Wildlife institute of India has fitted tracking machines on two birds – which could soon be migrating to Pakistan – last week. The WII wants to track their flight and plan a strategy based on the evidence, a scientist at the institute has said.
However, these birds are being hunted down in Pakistan at the moment, according to scientists.
The bustard is an endangered bird which is mostly found along the India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan and Gujarat. In 2013, their population was found to be below 200 while a few decades ago their numbers used to be in thousands.
The GIBs, not bred in Pakistan, migrate to neighbouring Sindh area from Kutch in Gujarat and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. There is no estimate of the GIB population in Pakistan.
The evidence from the radio-tags will be collected through mobile based GPS chips — similar to the ones used to track tigers — which transmit information through a mobile network and a satellite. The devices are kept in a backpack tied to the birds.
“With scientific evidence in hand, we may need to open diplomatic channels or talk to local NGOs to save the bird in Pakistan,” said senior WII scientist YV Jhala, who will oversee India’s first monitoring of the cross-border movement of birds.
“In Rajasthan, apart from the risk of them flying across the border, there’s a risk of them hitting electricity lines near windmills in the desert national park where they are found in large number,” Jhala said.
Conservationists have demanded that the power lines in the Desert National Park (DNP) area should be installed underground to prevent deaths of GIBs. On Wednesday, a GIB was electrocuted in Kanoi village area of Jaisalmer after it came in contact with a power line.
“WII has partnered with Rajasthan forest department and UAE’s International Bustard Breeding Agency , for the conservation breeding centre,” Jhala said, adding that the centre would take around two years to build.
Courtesy: The Hindustan Times