Love the birds in the sky
Every year, after the harvest, flocks of storks fly around the fields to freely search for food. But in recent years, the lives of migratory birds and storks are often at risk from human traps. If there is no effective solution to prohibit the mass hunting of birds, the risk of ecological imbalance is imminent.
(Baonghean) -Every year, after the harvest, flocks of storks fly around the fields to freely search for food. But in recent years, the lives of migratory birds and storks are often at risk from human traps. If there is no effective solution to prohibit the mass hunting of birds, the risk of ecological imbalance is imminent.
For the past few years, after the harvest, the coconut fields of my hometown (Tuong Son commune, Anh Son) have been covered with a lot of nets. At peak times, the entire field has hundreds of nets (each about 100 m long).2). The net is surrounded by bamboo poles, on the poles are hung beer cans and iron boxes so that when the net is pulled, it will create noise. During the day, the nets are lifted to avoid damage by buffaloes and cows. At night, the owners of the nets go to the fields to let the nets down to cover the whole area, then blow whistles, pull beer cans and iron boxes to create noise. The birds migrating to the South to avoid the cold are suddenly stimulated by the strange sound and fly down together. When the birds have entered the net, the bird trapper makes movements to wake them up and chase them away, making them panic, take off and fly in all directions and easily get their heads or feet caught in the mesh of the nets. With this method of trapping, there are people who catch 200-300 birds each night. The next day, they bring them to the market to sell or import them to shops or supply them to "brokers" from the lowlands at a price of 15,000-20,000 VND/bird. Nguyen Xuan Tien, a famous bird trapper in the area, said: "This is the time when migratory birds fly over the most, so almost every night we go to the fields to set nets to catch birds. If we are lucky, just one week of bird trapping can earn as much money as an entire rice crop.
Nets are set up to trap birds in the Coconut field,
Tuong Son commune (Anh Son).
In our concept, the storks symbolize the peace and prosperity of each village. However, recently, the white storks are gradually disappearing from the fields. Because at night, storks often stay in the dense bushes. There are people who are willing to hold hunting guns and kill them in large numbers and consider this a way to make a living. On this occasion, if anyone has the opportunity to walk along the fields, they will see white dots that from afar look like a flock of storks leisurely looking for food. When they get closer, it turns out that they are flocks of... foam storks. These foam storks are made by stork trappers and coated with a special glue and spread across the fields to lure real storks. While flying in the air, the flock of storks mistakenly think that there are other storks foraging below, so they swoop down and stick to the glue on the foam storks' bodies. With this method of trapping, many storks get stuck and become delicious prey for humans.
The above explains why birds have long been openly sold in rural and urban markets, and in many restaurants, bird meat is processed into attractive dishes and has become a specialty.
Mr. Nguyen Van Sau (over 90 years old) in Tuong Son commune (Anh Son) said: "Nowadays, agricultural production is very difficult because rice and corn plants are infected with too many pests. Perhaps partly because all birds have been hunted, insects continue to breed and develop indiscriminately. The State needs to have specific regulations to punish those who kill birds to save them from the risk of extinction, contributing to protecting crops."
Cong Kien
