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Even the bustard bird is killed across Pakistan border, simply for being 'Indian'

The Great Indian Bustard bird, critically endangered, is also murdered by Pakistanis, simply for being 'Indian'.

Now, what is in a name, you may ask.

Well, the Great Indian Bustard could do with an advertisement in the Gazette to change its name to Godawan Bustard — as it is known locally.

The Great Indian Bustard is a charismatic species — it is endemic to the Indian subcontinent. To be more precise, it is found only in the Thar Desert in India, besides a very small population (of around a dozen birds — and not one breeding male amongst them) in Kutch, Gujarat. The numbers are virtually extinct in the Deccan plateau where they once roamed in large numbers in a happier time.

According to the IUCN Red List (the world's most comprehensive inventory of the conservation status of species), the Great Indian Bustard is Critically Endangered.
We are not surprised, considering the population (a total of about 100 birds — give or take a few) is on the verge of extinction.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Great Indian Bustard: Hunted by Pakistanis for being "Indian". (Photo: Reuters)

Besides the obvious factors of habitat degradation, high-tension power lines and threats from predators, poaching is a huge reason for the abysmal numbers. In India, this state bird of Rajasthan is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act — it is accorded the same level of protection against poaching as the Royal Bengal Tiger or the Gir Lion. Therefore, poaching is out of the question.

However, the bird flies across the border to Pakistan — considering it falls as a part of its habitat, and its intellect not being sharp enough to perceive the human-made borders. Once across the border, it is punished for this folly — and for its name.

The IUCN Red List’s report for 2017 raised the alarm over the about rampant poaching of the bustards in Pakistan, stating that, “Current levels of hunting may result in the extinction of even the largest western Indian population in the next 15-20 years.” Their analysis revealed that the GIB individuals from Naliya in Kutch cross over into Pakistan.

The IUCN Red List noted that “high-intensity poaching still continues in Pakistan (which is probably shared with western Rajasthan and Kachchh populations), where 49 birds were hunted of 63 that were sighted over a period of four years.”

Neighbours across the borders kill the poor bustard — not so much for its meat and for sport, but for bearing “Indian” as a part of its name.

This human pettiness is perhaps a bottomless pit. The Great Indian Bustard is paying the price.

Also read: Why India needs to adopt ecological patriotism

But, fellow people from Pakistan simply don’t care, they have poached and hunted almost 49 out of 63 birds that were in Pakistan over a period of 4 years.

And, As an Indian, the reason that I will list below will enrage you more. The reason they killed so many of these innocent birds:

Quote:They have ‘INDIAN’ in their name.

Yes! That’s the illogical reason behind it. Ain’t that sad, they are just getting killed for the reason they don’t even know. But again, what can you expect.

Now, Just look at this beautiful animal:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Markhor.

A species of wild goat that is found in parts Jammu and Kashmir. A majestic animal.

It’s the ‘National Animal of Pakistan’.

Their habitat is near LOC, thus they are also seen in parts of India. But that doesn’t mean people from India kill it at sight because it is the national animal of the neighbouring country.

In fact, In India, Markhor is conserved and protected as per ‘Wildlife Protection Act’. On top of that, it is listed in ‘Schedule I’ of the protection act. That means India has given it the same level of importance as that of a Tiger ‘The National Animal of India’.

*This image is copyright of its original author

This is the difference between the two countries…

India works with ethics and integrity, while Pakistan works out of hate. And that’s what makes India a better country.

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Don't subject the Great Indian Bustard to politics of hate

Before pointing fingers at Pakistan, we need to reflect upon our own lack of political will to save the Great Indian Bustard from extinction.

Once widespread across India’s grasslands and dry rural landscapes, the ostrich-like Great Indian Bustard (GIB) has disappeared from across 95% of its former range. The Thar Desert is the last — even if precarious — stronghold of this species. About 70 birds are to be found here.

The bustard has been battered by habitat loss due to roads, highways, mining, canals, agriculture, mismanagement of its habitat and ‘greening’ projects that transform its arid grassland habitat to wooded areas, rendering it hostile for the GIB. An increasing and fatal threat is the dense network of overhead power lines from renewable and conventional energy power projects. These criss-crossing high-tension power lines have become a death trap for the birds that fly low to the ground and have a limited field of vision.

The GIB is endemic to the Indian sub-continent, and the birds, like all wild creatures fly free over international borders, in this case into Pakistan’s Cholistan desert.
The birds are hunted in Pakistan — in fact, a conservationist in Pakistan writes that of the 63 birds sighted in four years (2001–4), 49 were poached, though there are no reliable records to authenticate this information.

What may have also been killed is the Houbara Bustard, a tad smaller in size, and with a slightly higher population. It’s still terrible and must be condemned, but it may be worth noting that there is no ‘Indian’ in its name. And despite the headline, there is nothing, no data, no quotes, no information in the article to indicate that the bird is being killed because it has ‘Indian’ in its name.

This assumption is not substantiated, and all it seems to be doing, as I see it, is hate mongering and fanning outrage, encashing on the tensions, currently at a high, between two countries. But why target a bird, which has no nationality?  Birds are symbols of peace, not hate.

The country must be taken to task for this at appropriate forums, nothing justifies the killing of an endangered wild creature.

And hunting is an issue in India as well — though at a much lesser scale. In December 2012, a GIB was gunned down by hunters in broad daylight, just a few yards from the Sudasari enclosure, within the Desert National Park in Rajasthan.

The fact is that we have failed to keep the Great Indian Bustard safe in India. It is not just the gun that kills, there are a million ways to down a bird. Transmission wires are fatal to the bird. Between 2007-2017, at least 10 GIBs were killed by collision with the transmission line. This is where the bodies were recovered, other deaths go unreported.

The only male of the doomed GIB population in Kutch, Gujarat has been missing for the past four months. Lost, presumed dead. With just about 150 birds remaining in the wild, each death inches the bird closer to extinction. In such low populations, even one unnatural death can cause extinction in three generations.

Despite knowing the bird was slipping into extinction, and knowing solutions that need to be implemented to save the species, India has failed to protect the GIB and secure its last remaining habitats. It rendered its grassland habitat, crucial to the survival of the GIB, as ‘wastelands’, and these are being destroyed relentlessly. The last fragmented patches that remain are criss-crossed by transmission lines. The Wildlife Institute of India estimates that 18 GIBs are likely killed by collision with these every year in the Thar Desert.

We have known of the GIB's plight for the past 60 years, if not longer. The first meeting of the Indian Board of Wildlife in 1952 records grave concern over the rapidly dwindling numbers of the GIB and asked for urgent intervention to save the species. The international community has been urging the Indian government to respond to the GIB’s alarming situation. But, except for a surge of activity in the 1970s, we have stood by and watched this bird slip further into the precipice.

Recently, a collaborative public awareness campaign launched in December 2018 by Sanctuary Nature Foundation, The Corbett Foundation and Conservation India has brought together over 10,000 Indian citizens concerned for the bustard. They are demanding that the Ministry of Power place the most threatening sections of powerlines in the GIB habitat safely underground, but their call has gone unacknowledged by the Ministry.  

It will be a shame if, or more likely when, the Great Indian Bustard becomes extinct under our watch.
Before we point fingers at Pakistan, we need to reflect upon our own lack of political will to save the species from extinction.

I say this as a citizen of India, one whose loyalties lie not only to the country, but to Nature, which knows no boundaries, and which is our collective heritage.
No country owns wildlife, yet it ‘belongs’ to all of us, it is our collective responsibility and the natural heritage of all citizens of planet earth.

The need of the hour is better coordination between both countries, and forests officials and conservationists on both sides of the border have suggested this. Reply