Barn Owl Hunted to Death and soon extinction?

[Paramvir Singh]

I was driving on Vajreshwari Road, near the newly declared Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, Maharashtra, and we went a little off the road towards a tiny hamlet called Lendipara (this is the name the villagers told me). I saw a young man proudly carrying this trophy of a hunted barn owl. I asked him why he killed the bird, and after much prodding he said 'for eating'. Obviously it's a lie. They probably do something else with the body and parts. Sad and shocking.

The region is a beautiful natural landscape which has Tungareshwar Wildlifr Sanctuary on one side and rolling hills on the other. Wish this could be included in the protected area.

I had written to the DFO Thane Region, and received no reply. I had attended a short course at the WII Dehradun on Conservation, and we were asked to report such illegal wildlife huntings to the local DFO. I guess the DFO must be flooded with email. Sent these images to Sanctuary Magazine as well and received no response.

I am sure the villagers are regularly hunting wild animals and birds in this region. I wish one could stop them.

[Paramvir Singh]

More pics.

[Paramvir Singh]

One more image. This is the last I took.

[Mrudul Godbole]

This is really a sad thing. Rare species hunted so openly and no action is taken. Please upload the other images too. Thanks for sharing this.

[Shyamala Kumar]

Even looking at such a sight is agonizing itself.Most of our wildlife sanctuaries are a source of income and livelihood for the unemployed youth of the villages, that surround them.I don't think this particular youth realizes the gravity of his crime.In Tadoba the guides and drivers openly admitted to poaching bamboo.The only way to realistic conservation is to actively involve these youngsters in these efforts, and to make conservation a source of employment to them.The exploding population in these villages coupled with absence of education, in the real sense of the word, adds to the magnitude of a problem, that our politicians , do not even acknowledge . CNN IBN has a program called the citizen journalist show.This particularly horrifying image could be presented as a conservation problem and bring about some awareness atleast.

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Sad but a common problem. Mostly driven by superstition and quack medicine many of the birds and animals found on the country side are hunted even today. FD authorities will have enough on their hands on the happenings in PAs that very little focus comes on to such incidents in the country side. But we should still report them.....recently we got 2 youth displaying a rock python and collecting money arrested. Some idiot had advised them that the python stings with the limb vestige near the tail and asked them to cut it off.. which they promptly did and the half dead animal was being displayed and photographed for money. The guys who did this were not tribals or hard put for money..they were just doing it for fun and some quick bucks..there was some local media coverage on this issue and this helped prompt action.This also helped create awareness on the seriousness of acts like this once it comes into the legal framework, but unfortunately most such incident are simply brushed aside and not even reported and when reported not acted on...You did the right thing by reporting it. Of late the local cable channels are a very effective way of bring focus / coerce action from authorities on conservation issues which are ignored by the larger media. They are usually news hungry and will feature such issues which might not meet the sensationalism standards of the established media houses....Those of you who are a witness to such incidents should along with reporting it, try and get some coverage in the local media if possible.

Rgds
Roopak

[Paramvir Singh]

It pains me so much to see this. There were some other villagers around and I was so agonized it didn't occur to me to take their names.

Will upload the other two images.

Interestingly I had sent the images to sanctuary magazine as well, but haven't heard back from them.

Anyone know of any media people I could forward these two.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

It is really sad to see this happening again and again. There is lack of awareness. If the forest department would have conducted awareness drives then some of these would not have happened. Strict enforcement of the law will ensure that our wildlife and wilderness places will survive.

In this image it is clearly seen that the person has used catapult to hunt the owls. Unfortunately, catapult is not classified as a weapon In the Wildlife Protection Act. Where as the definition of weapon includes “ammunition, bows and arrows, explosives, firearms, hooks, knives, nets, poison, snares, traps, and any instrument or apparatus capable of anaesthetizing, decoying, destroying, injuring or killing an animal”. This seemingly harmless play thing causes huge damage in the hands of experts. So we need to also raise our voice to ban catapult. In this article, one can see even small kids using it. http://www.indiawilds.com/diary/ban-catapult/

Paramvir has done a very good job of documenting it. That is how photography becomes a good tool in documentation to save our wildlife. I will write to the PCCF as well as to CCF. I request all our members to also shoot an email to the following senior officers.

Shri. Anwar Ahmed
Conservator of Forest
cfwlthane@mahaforest.gov.in
Off. 022-25402522
Res.
Fax.022-25329865

cc: Shri. S.A.Thorat
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest
ccfwlmumbai@rediffmail.com
Off. 022-28692668
Res.
Fax.022-28692593

[Paramvir Singh]

Thanks Sabyasachi. I will write again to these emails. I had written to the DFO thane, but no reply.

[Sandip Mukherjee]

Mr singh

it is very sad to see these photos of barn owl hunting, i will post this photos in facebook and will tell our wildlife lovers to spread in all people which can feel some sensation to the persons who are paid by our countrymen to protect them. I need your permission to do that.

Thanking you

s.mukherjee
member

[Mrudul Godbole]

Mr singh

it is very sad to see these photos of barn owl hunting, i will post this photos in facebook and will tell our wildlife lovers to spread in all people which can feel some sensation to the persons who are paid by our countrymen to protect them. I need your permission to do that.

Thanking you

s.mukherjee
member

Sandip, Thanks for taking the effort to raise awareness about this issue. It would be really good if you can post the link of this thread in Facebook along with the image. So that people will get the entire picture and will also know the addresses of the Forest Department (mentioned by Sabyasachi) to whom they can write or mail to raise their voice. Hope more people share this. Thanks.

[Paramvir Singh]

Hi sandip. Sorry for the late reply. Of course you can do that. Please feel free to share this picture for the purpose of raising awareness.