Dancing peacock rare sight in Punjab

Fazilka, June 3: Peacocks, the national bird of India, dancing in the monsoon, was quite a common site some years back but now this has become a very rare sight in this region of Punjab.

The peacock population in this area has fallen over the years due to habitat loss of the bird. Unplanned growth of concrete jungle in the form of residential units, contamination of food sources due to disposal of household waste and plastics thrown in the nearby Badha Lake are some of the reasons alongwith hunting that are responsible for the decline in the peacock population.

The Badha lake was one of the main area of Punjab where the peacock population thrived without fear of being hunted.

Despite objections from the state Wildlife department, the local Municipal Council violating has been violating both the Forest Conservation Act, 1982 and Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Permission is being granted by the Council to residents and builders for construction of buildings and houses on areas which were considered as the natural habitats of the national bird.

The dumping of household and industrial wastes close to the Badha lake has led to contamination of the food sources of the bird.

This has been going on uncheacked under the very nose of the Municipal Council.

The state Wildlife department has put the Fazilka peacock in its critically endangered list of birds in this region. According to Wildlife officials peacocks are also being mercilessly hunted down due to great demand for their feathers and flesh peacocks and their fat, which some mistake as a cure for arthritis.

Wildlife statistics show that in February 2000, seven peacocks had died after consuming some eatable sprayed with insecticides in the area. These included two peahens and five peacocks.

Latest surveys by Wildlife officials show that there are only two male peacocks left in the Badha lake region, near Periwal garden, as compared to a couple of (female) peahens. The main reason for this could be that a male is a 'sitting duck' for a hunter when it dances around a female during the mating season. ''You can well imagine how threatened the peacock species would be when the male birds are being killed just before mating. It is also easier to hunt peacocks down because they sleep in the same trees every night'', a note by the state Wildlife department to the state headquarters states.

Ironically, until today no census has been conducted of the peacock by either the state or the central government. The sole stock-taking of the peacock population in India was done by WWF India in 1991.

It revealed that India was left with only 50 per cent of the total peacock population that existed at the time of partition in 1947. Wildlife Department officials admit that in India out of 100 killings of peacocks, just one is reported.

The peacock is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, India 1972 which prescribes a maximum imprisonment of six years, Rs 25,000 fine or both for hunting animals and birds specified on Schedule I. The Punjab Wildife authorities here have often questioned the role of the Municipal Council and other district officials about their role in protecting the fauna of the region.

UNI