Satish Aditya
Motihari : A team of Forest Division, East Champaran District in North Bihar, arrested Muslim Mian, a poacher of migratory birds, in the wee hours on January 24, 2021, and seized large quantity of meat of migratory birds from his possession near river Dhanauti near Motihari. The Forest team also recovered Rs 10,000 cash from his shoes and seized his motorcycle. The arrested poacher was remanded to judicial custody under Wildlife Protection Act.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), East Champaran, Prabhakar Jha, said that he has constituted a vigilance team to keep vigil on water bodies and take appropriate action with the support of police against poachers and trappers of migratory birds, at Sarottar Lake. The DFO has launched a special drive against poaching, trapping, killing, and marketing of migratory birds this winter season.
More than 50,000 migratory birds had settled on 62 acres long Sarottar Lake in November 2020 from Europian coasts, central Asian
and Himalayan region, to escape the freezing cold there.
Sadhu Sharan Singh, Aassistant Public Prosecutor from village Sarottar, said said that out of 62 acres, 40 acres of land of Sarottar Lake
belong to over 50 farmers of this village and they lease out their land at lake to local fishermen for fishing and trapping of birds
every year. The birdcatchers sell these migratory birds in different markets and and the birds are being transported to Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.