As many as 100 endangered vultures and an eagle have died in Assam’s Chaygaon, forest officials informed on Saturday. The cause of death is being conjectured to be insecticide poisoning.
As per reports, the incident took place on Thursday night on a paddy field in Kamrup district’s Chhaygaon area, nearly 45 km west of Guwahati after the bird’s consumed meat from the poisoned carcass of a small animal, probably goat or dog.
“We got information about deaths of vultures in the area on Thursday night. A team found 97 dead vultures in a field. We were able to rescue 11 vultures and 1 eagle from the spot,” said Dimpi Bora, divisional forest officer Kamrup (West) forest division.
The officials in an attempt to save the dying vultures induced them to vomit but lost 3 more vultures and one eagle on Friday.
Dimpi Bora, Divisional Forest Officer told The Hindu that said some bones of a goat were found near the carcasses of the vultures. “We suspect the vultures died after feeding on the poisoned carcass of the goat, but the cause of death can be ascertained after an autopsy report,” she said.
“It is high time the police investigated and punished the culprits behind such cases of poisoning. This has been happening for the last 12-15 years but no action is taken either by the police or the Forest Department,” wildlife activist Moloy Baruah was quoted telling The Hindu.
The dead vultures and the eagle were burnt by forest officials on Thursday and Friday. As per reports, the area where they were found is located close to a village where at least 10 endangered vultures died after feeding on a pesticide-laced cattle carcass in February 2020. The vultures belonged to the Himalayan Griffon species while the eagle was a Stepee Eagle. Both birds are listed in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 as endangered species that need rigorous protection.
Taking to Twitter, Bibhab Talukdar, secretary-general of Aaranyak, an NGO condemned the untimely death of the animals while also urging the chief minister’s office and Assam police to check the easy sale of organophosphates, a type of insecticide used by villagers to kill stray animals.
Several instances of vultures dying after consuming carcasses of poisoned animals in Assam have come to the fore in the last few years. In February 2021, four Himalayan griffons were found dead near a wetland in the Lakhimpur district’s Dhakuakhana area. In January of the same year, poisoned carcasses of two cows claimed the lives of 23 vultures in the Dhola area of eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district. These vultures belonged to the oriental white-backed and slender-billed species.
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