Nghe An takes drastic measures to protect migratory birds
(Baonghean) - Currently, it is the time when many flocks of birds from the North migrate to the South to avoid the cold. Authorities in Nghe An are stepping up propaganda to raise awareness of protecting wild birds and handling violations.
Traps in the countryside
This is the time when the weather in the North starts to get cold, flocks of wild birds begin their journey to the South to avoid the cold. On the journey of thousands of miles, many birds unfortunately fall into traps set on the ground, becoming prey or goods for humans.
In recent years, Nghe An is one of the localities where people organizefishing, turning migratory birds into commodities in markets and restaurants. At times, birds were even sold everywhere along national highways and residential areas, causing many concerns and frustrations about the issue of protecting the ecological environment. The "hot spots" where wild bird hunting and trapping occurred were in the districts of Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, Nghi Loc, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan...
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| People in many places in Nghe An used to set up nets in the middle of the fields to trap migratory birds. Photo: Cong Kien |
There are many ways to trap and catch wild birds. In Nghe An, people often use nets and decoy birds to catch migratory birds. After the harvest, the fields with bare stubble are the places people choose to set nets to catch birds. Depending on the number of birds, the nets will be spread in large or small areas. Beer cans and other objects that make noise when the nets swing are often hung on the nets.
Bird hunters also play audio files.bird soundchirping, whistle to attract the attention of flocks of birds flying above. At night, flying over the deserted fields, hearing the sound below, the flock of birds will swoop down, find the source of the sound to find their own kind. When the flock of birds falls into the net, the hunter will appear and take action to make the flock of birds panic and get caught in the net. At this time, the hunter only needs to remove each bird caught in the net and bring it back.
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| Styrofoam fake storks are placed in rice fields to trap migratory storks. Photo: CSCC |
The method of trapping birds with decoys also often takes place in the fields. People use pieces of foam cut into the shape of storks and spread them on the fields, surrounded by bamboo and wooden sticks covered with glue. In some places, people use real birds as bait, using rope to tie the birds' legs to the edge of the field to attract the attention of the birds.bird of the sky. While flying in the sky, seeing a flock of storks below, thinking that their kind were foraging, the migratory birds immediately swooped down.
Many “unlucky” birds have been stuck with glue and fallen into the hands of humans. The trapped migratory birds are often sold at markets and specialty restaurants for around 20,000 VND/bird. With this method of hunting and trapping, each migratory bird season, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Lien in Minh Chau commune (Dien Chau) catches about 500 birds, selling for tens of millions of VND.
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| The interdisciplinary inspection team of Dien Tho commune (Dien Chau) launched a campaign to handle and remove illegal migratory bird trapping sites. Photo: CSCC |
And thanks to hunting and trapping wild birds, many people in Dien Chau and Nghi Loc districts earn hundreds, sometimes millions of dong per day, depending on the number of birds trapped.
Get in on the action
These days, when we have the opportunity to pass through large fields in the plains and midlands, we have noticed that there are almost no more scenes of white storks spreading white in the fields like this time in previous years. This shows that the functional forces and authorities at all levels have taken drastic measures to protect wild birds and people's awareness has begun to be raised.
Typical is the districtDien Chau– which in previous years was one of the “hot spots”, especially in the communes of Dien Thinh, Dien Loc, Dien Phu and Minh Chau… According to the data of the Forest Protection Department, Dien Chau district, after nearly 20 days of operation, the communes have eliminated 545 stork catching spots, seized over 35,000 m of nets and destroyed nearly 75,000 fake storks made of foam.
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| Fake storks made of foam were seized by Dien Chau district authorities awaiting destruction. Photo: CSCC |
Notably, in Dien Tho commune, in just one session, the interdisciplinary inspection team including district forest rangers, police, and commune military dismantled 30 stork traps, destroyed 450 fake storks and 800m of net.
Mr. Hoang Huu Tinh - Vice Chairman of Dien Tho Commune People's Committee said: "According to the direction of the superiors, the commune established an interdisciplinary inspection team to regularly handle cases of violations of protection regulations.wildlife, including migratory birds. At the same time, check restaurants and markets in the area. If any trading, transporting or consuming of wild birds is discovered, they will be handled according to regulations.
Like in Dien Chau, the fields in Nghi Loc district have recently lost the white color of flocks of storks, while flocks of real storks are freely flying in the air and foraging in the fields. The communes of Nghi Yen, Nghi Tien, Nghi Thiet, Nghi Hung and Nghi Dong are "hot spots" for bird hunting.immigrationbut the basic situation has also "cooled down".
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| Authorities of Dien Chau district propagate and mobilize people to sign a commitment not to catch, transport, consume and slaughter wild animals. Photo: CSCC |
According to Mr. Truong Thanh Binh - the ranger in charge of Nghi Yen commune, not long ago, in some areas, people were using storks to hunt and trap migratory birds. When he discovered this situation, he advised the Nghi Yen commune People's Committee to issue a notice prohibiting the acts of hunting, trapping, buying, selling, and slaughtering migratory birds and wild animals.
At the same time, strengthen inspection and handling of violations and promote propaganda and request households and restaurants to make commitments not to violate regulations on hunting, trapping,slaughterand consumption of wild birds.
According to information from the Nghi Loc District Forest Protection Department, since the end of September, the unit has advised the District People's Committee to issue a plan to strengthen wildlife management in the area. This includes the content that relevant departments and branches coordinate with localities to organize propaganda, dissemination, and education of laws onprotectwildlife
At the same time, establish inspection teams to confiscate and destroy nets and traps in the fields; organize signing of commitments not to trade, slaughter, transport and consume wild animals, including migratory birds.
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| Thanks to the drastic intervention of the authorities, many fields are no longer covered with fake storks and migratory bird traps. Photo: Cong Kien |
“To implement the plan, we proactively coordinate with communes to detect, combat andhandlecases of intentional violations. After a week of drastic implementation, the hunting and trapping of wild birds has decreased significantly, and there are no more decoy birds and trapping nets on the fields" - Mr. Nguyen Hong Lam, Head of Nghi Loc Forest Protection Department said.
“During the rainy and stormy season, many migratory birds come to Nghe An for shelter and food, and people in some localities have illegally hunted them. At the end of September, the Forest Protection Department issued a document requesting its subordinate Forest Protection Departments to strengthen the management of migratory birds during the rainy season, coordinate with local authorities to step up propaganda against hunting, trading, transporting, slaughtering, and consuming wild animals, and organize a crackdown on the hunting of migratory birds.”
