Photography of bustard now covered under Wildlife Act

[Roopak Gangadharan]

A good move, with wildlife photography enthusiasts not knowing where to draw the line I guess restrictions of this kind will be imperative. From what I saw in my last visit a similar move will do a lot of good to the birding hotspots outside Bangalore.

Rgds
Roopak

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad: The forest department has restricted the movement of people in the Naliya grasslands, a habitat of the Great Indian Bustard. This is because the movement of people was too close to the birds and created disturbance for them.
Deputy conservator of forests, Kutch (West) division, P A Vihol said that recently the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) issued guidelines for the Great Indian Bustard Recovery Programme.

The guidelines stated that “unethical photography during the breeding season often acts as a constant source of disturbance to the bustards. Incidents of such photography have been reported in Naliya grasslands. Due to the lack of legislative enforcement and protective measures in core breeding areas, such direct threats on Great Indian Bustard population continues unrestricted.”

Vihol said, “In order to reduce such direct threats to this critically endangered and Schedule-I species in Naliya grasslands, particularly during their breeding season, we are issuing a caution note to the overenthusiastic and unethical photographers to restrict their movements near the sanctuary areas, breeding and nesting grounds. The breeding season spans from April to October.”
He cautioned that “any person found to be disturbing the birds during their breeding or even its nesting shall be prosecuted under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.”

According to officials, the act was there in place, but no such caution was issued and people use to walk very close to the birds. Hence, a decision was taken to impose this caution note based on the guidelines of the MoEF.

It has been mentioned in the guidelines that some grassland areas were ploughed during monsoon and post-monsoon season for planting better species of grass and their growth. Such activities also create disturbance to nests, eggs or chicks of the Great Indian Bustard, said a senior official, adding that the department will also impose a curb on such activities

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

An interesting and useful move. Would like to know what exactly the "restrictions" are...