Its location and its pristine beauty make the Ziro Valley in Arunachal Pradesh a much sought-after destination for trekkers and tourists alike. Located in the Lower Subhansiri district, the elevation of the valley goes up to 8000 feet and, hence, the cool weather during summer is its biggest attraction. However, the valley does not just attract humans but also migratory birds, who fly all the way from faraway countries to spend some time in its lap.
ZIRO VALLEYS UNIQUENESS
Although the numbers of migratory birds visiting Ziro Valley are not that high compared to some other places in the Northeast, like Tamenglong in Manipur for instance, the landscape of this place attracts some rare migratory birds that make it a point to visit the valley every year.
DFO of Ziro, Mr. Abhinav Kumar, said “According to the dietary pattern of these birds, they mostly come to areas where rice fields and wetlands are located. The Siikhe Lake in Ziro, which is a big wetland landscape, is one such attraction for these birds.”
Some of the rare birds which were seen in the valley recently was the Mandarin Duck which was spotted for the first time in Arunachal Pradesh last year. It was earlier seen in Assam around a century ago.
“The interesting part is that the Mandarin Duck has revisited again this season after being spotted last time. And this season it has even stayed longer than before,” DFO Kumar said.
But at the same time, as these migratory birds are equally important for the ecosystem, its protection and conservation are necessary. For this reason, the Ziro Valley forest department is taking various measures to ensure no harm comes to the winged visitors.
THE ISSUES
The major issue the forest department faces is to get rid of the hunters, mostly from among the local people, who hunt these birds for local consumption. In accordance with age-old tribal customs in the valley, people are used to eating the birds they hunt.
Mr. Kumar said, “People in the valley give air guns to their teenage kids. As these kids are unemployed and have enough time to spare, they indulge in bad activities. There have been cases where people carrying air guns run away after seeing the patrolling forest team.”
SOLUTION
To solve this issue, the Ziro Valley forest department has taken a few steps. Firstly, they have caused a deterrent through their regular patrolling and are also catching people who are caught hunting. Mr. Abhinav said, “There have been cases where we have caught people with meat of the birds. Such people are slapped with wildlife cases. Also, our teams conduct early morning patrolling, as during this time there are very less people around and hunters find it the perfect time to hunt with their silent air guns.”
AIRGUN SURRENDER ABHIYAN
The state of Arunachal Pradesh also launched an ‘Air Gun Surrender Abhiyan’ on 17 March last year, asking people to surrender their air guns voluntarily to stop the hunting of birds and other animals. PM Narendra Modi also lauded this initiative last year and praised the steps taken by the state government in the conservation of wildlife.
Till now, the division under IFS officer Abhinav Kumar has managed to make people surrender 200 air guns, while 2200 air guns have been surrendered by people in the entire state.
