Assam: Caged migratory birds seized in Nagaon, 1 held

GUWAHATI | DEC 4, 2019:

At least sixteen migratory birds in captivity have been seized by the officials of Assam forest department from Juria in Nagaon district in the early hours of Tuesday and arrested a youth for hunting of these birds.

Police believe that there is a huge racket involved behind catching and hunting of these migratory birds that flock to Juria and some other areas of Assam during the winter season.

What shocked the forest officials is there is a huge clientele in and around the district, who gets these birds home delivered for meat for a price.

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"Upon receiving information regarding hunting of migratory birds a team from Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary was sent at night to some of the agriculture fields near Juria. Our team have recovered some microphones playing bird sound from these fields," said Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife) of Nagaon Forest division, TC Ranjith.

"A search operation was carried out in the morning and we found around 16 number of Purple Moor hens and cages along with microphones, loud speakers, and nets left in the agriculture field," he said.

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"The hunters play these bird sounds in loud speakers to attract the birds. When the birds land, they were caught using nets. All items were seized and search is on going to apprehend the hunters behind the act," Ranjith said.

The clients are connected to the hunters with mobile phones. "Once the birds are caught they inform this through mobile phone and fix a price. Once the price is fixed, it is delivered at the address," he said.

"We are trying to get to the clients through the mobile numbers," he added.