From S T Beuria
Birds over Lake Chilka, Orissa, India

Bhubaneswar – Despite the bird flu fear, killing and poaching of migratory birds have already begun in Orissa’s Chilka lake, Asia’s biggest brackish water lagoon and one of the major winter homes in the country for migratory birds from across the globe.

During the last one week, at least two cases of bird poaching have been detected by forest department personnel manning the lake, confirming that the fear of bird flu is having no impact on the poachers and bird hunters. At the beginning of the bird season late last month, forest officials had expressed hope that the warning on the possible spread of bird flu through migratory birds might have a major impact on poaching in Chilka.
In the first case of poaching this year, forest officials arrested five bird hunters and recovered eight dead migratory birds from them in Bhusandapur, near the lake. These birds were poisoned, a common tactic poachers use to kill the winged visitors.
All five arrested in connection with the case were minor children aged between 12 and 17. They included two girls. All of them have been sent to a juvenile home after they were produced in a local court.
The arrest of the five minors, according to forest department officials, has proved that poachers have now started roping in children into their trade. “As we have intensified our anti-poaching operations, the poachers have now started experimenting new methods to continue their activities,” said a senior official of the Chilka Wildlife Division.
In another incident, forest personnel seized thirty dead migratory birds during a raid. The poachers, however, managed to flee.