Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Chilka Lake stinks with dead migratory birds

By Ratikant Mohanty
&
Akshaya Kumar Sahoo



Bhubaneswar, Dec 12: Chilka lake, the largest brackish lagoon in Asia, is literarily stinking this season with at least 82 migratory birds falling prey to some mysterious diseases in the last 18 days.
This incident has sent shockwaves among the wildlife and nature lovers. Wildlife lovers have demanded immediate intervention by the experts to protect the guest birds.
According Abhimanyu Behera, Chilka divisional forest officer, efforts were on to ascertain the causes of the birds' death. He informed that preventive measures were already initiated to check further casualty.
All the deaths were reported from the Nalabana Bird Sanctuary inside the Chilika Lake. Migratory birds from far-off places like Siberia and Iran arrive in Nalabana during the winter every year and return to their native places after.
Mr Behera said of the 82 birds which died, 69 of them are pintails.
Other bird species - Shovellers, Gadwals, Bar-headed Goose and Sea Eagles - were also among the dead while 277 birds were reported sick.
"The deaths first came to the notice of experts in November. Last week alone, four birds were found dead," added Mr Behera.
Blood samples of dead and sick birds have been sent to the high security animal disease laboratory in Bhopal for examination. The laboratory has the facility to diagnose H5NI, commonly referred to as bird flu, he said.
No report of bird deaths were received from other part of the Chilka Lake, the divisional officer said.
An official estimate says over three lakh migratory birds have so far flown into the lake this winter from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Tibet, Ladakh and Siberia to escape biting cold.
Two teams of doctors from the state veterinary department and the Bombay Natural History Society have been posted in the sanctuary to treat the sick birds, he said.
"The death of the migratory birds is indeed very shocking. Immediate efforts be made to arrest the causes of the death," said Biswajit Mohanty, secretary Wildlife Society of Orissa.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear,Friend
Chilka Lake (also Chilika Lake) is a brackish water coastal lake in India's Orissa

state, south of the mouth of the Mahanadi River. It is the largest coastal lake in

India. The lake was formed due to the silting action of the Mahanadi River, The

area of the lake varies from 1165 km² in the monsoon season to 906 km² in the

dry season, and is studded with numerous small islands. This wildlife sanctuary

is ideal for wildlife tours and bird watching tours during the winter months.
Please Visit For More Detail
http://www.desidirectory.com/india-travel-guide/

12:17 AM  
Blogger SATYAJIT said...

chilika lake and winter bird a great combination in natural world donot miss it in winter.plan to for chilika tour.

10:45 AM  

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