: How Many People Would Quit Their Jobs Then Save an Endangered Bird? This Hero Did #IndiaNEWS #Conservation Every winter, thousands of majestic Amur falcons fill the Nagaland skies along the Doyang

How Many People Would Quit Their Jobs Then Save an Endangered Bird? This Hero Did #IndiaNEWS #Conservation
Every winter, thousands of majestic Amur falcons fill the Nagaland skies along the Doyang valley reservoir. The birds are native to South Russia and North China, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed this endangered species under protection under the Indian Wildlife Act, 1972 and the Convention on Migratory Species.
Nagaland is the largest roosting site for migratory birds — a stopover on their way to Southern Africa. The birds spend a few weeks in the Indian sub-continent before they resume their inter-continental journey, which spans 22,000 km, making it one of the longest routes in the avian species category.
However, these grey insectivorous birds of prey were under serious threat of poaching. Each year, as the birds would their roosts in Doyang Valley, the local fishermen would hunt them on a massive scale. A conservative number during hunting season in 2012 was estimated at least 1,40,000 birds in a single season.
However, thanks to a team of committed conservationists, these numbers have boiled down to almost zero. Interestingly, the very fishermen who trapped the birds in their fishing nets have now become fierce protectors of the species.
Putting A Blanket Ban On Hunting

The team of conservationists consisted of Bano Haralu and Roko Kuotsu from Nagaland, Shashank Dalvi, a wildlife biologist from Mumbai, and Ramki Sreenivasan, a Bangalore-based wildlife photographer.
Ramki’s passion for conservation and wildlife stems from his younger years, which he spent observing and learning about birds. “I remember being fascinated by birds in school and pursued my interest through documentaries, books and binoculars,�? he tells The Better India.
“Before this, I was in the corporate world, and eventually became an entrepreneur. In 2008, I returned to my passion wildlife. I started in Bengaluru, which was the hub of bird photographers, and was quick to hop on the bandwagon. I started wildlife photography with my friend Shashank,�? he says.
During these sessions, Ramki says he observed a number of things. For one, birds were captured, skinned and used for trade and delicacies. The activity had continued uninterrupted despite a 2010 government ban on hunting and killing the birds. It was a massacre, and as every house had Amur falcons either dead or dying. He says the team was shocked and felt pained by this.
So the same year, Ramki founded Conservation India (CI) to establish norms, share learnings, case studies and draw a blueprint for best practices in the field, including running campaigns. It is the largest conservation portal in the country today.
Ramki says that the team’s investigation revealed that over one lakh birds were falling victim to indiscriminate hunting.

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